Mizoram polls: Zoramthanga again aims for second straight tenure, but former cop’s party stands in the way

Since the formation of Mizoram in 1986, the government has swung between the MNF and the Congress. When Zoramthanga took charge as CM in 2018 after the MNF won 27 seats and 38.4% of the votes, it was his third term in power and marked a return to the top job after 10 years. He had led two successive MNF governments from 1998 to 2008 but then came the two tenures of the Congress led by Lal Thanhawla.

While the MNF will be hoping for the two-term pattern to continue, for the last few years the party has been harnessing sociopolitical forces affecting members of the broader Mizo-Kuki-Chin or Zo ethnic group to cultivate an image of a wider leadership. Going against the Centre’s directives, the Zoramthanga has welcomed and sheltered Chin refugees from Myanmar since the military coup in the neighbouring country and they are estimated to number well over 35,000. This year, the Mizoram government has sheltered more than 12,000 Kuki-Zomi people displaced by the conflict in neighbouring Manipur.

With the breakdown in the relationship between Manipur’s 10 Kuki-Zomi MLAs and the N Biren Singh-led government, Zoramthanga has met these legislators multiple times. And then, with an eye on the elections, the state government declared last month that it would ignore the Centre’s orders to collect biometric data of “illegal immigrants” from Myanmar in the state. Cabinet Minister Lalruatkin told The Indian Express at the time that the question of refugees in Mizoram was an emotive matter and a “political issue” likely to have a bearing on the polls.

State of the Opposition

But the MNF is looking at a tough fight against the ZPM, which, as an unregistered party in 2018, bagged eight seats and emerged as the second-largest party in the Assembly. Under the leadership of former MP Lalduhoma, an ex-IPS officer, the ZPM, which will be contesting all 40 constituencies, will look to consolidate its gains. It will particularly look to build on its strong performance earlier this year in the municipal election in Lunglei, Mizoram’s second-biggest town, where it won all 11 seats.

The Congress, which found itself relegated to the third position with just four seats in 2018, will be fighting to improve its performance.

A major development in 2018 was the BJP making its debut in the Mizoram Assembly with Tuichwang MLA Buddha Dhan Chakma from the minority Chakma community. While the party does not have an easy task in the predominantly Christian state — more than 87% of the population is Christian — it received a boost last week after former MNF MLA and minister K. Beichhua from the Mara minority community officially joined it after resigning from the Assembly.