Aizawl: After nearly a month of high-octave campaigning, it’s now the turn of voters in Mizoram to elect their new representatives to the 40-member Legislative Assembly with over 8.57 lakh voters exercising their right to franchise in the single phase polling on Tuesday to decide the electoral fate of 174 candidates.
Out of 174 candidates, there are 16 women and 27 independents in the fray. Out of 8,56,868 eligible voters, 4,38,925 are female.
Mizoram Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Madhup Vyas said that voting will begin in all 1,276 polling stations across Mizoram at 7 am and the voting will continue till 4 pm. Votes polled will be counted on December 3.
Of the 1,276 polling stations, 149 are remote polling stations, while 30 voting centres along the inter-state and international borders have been declared critical and vulnerable.
Vyas said webcasting will be undertaken in 769 of the of the 1,276 polling stations.
“Three thousand-odd state police personnel and 450 sections of the Central Armed Police Forces of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have been deployed for the polls,” the election official said.
There are 21 general observers, 14 expenditure observers and 11 police observers to oversee the polling process in the state.
The 722-km-long international borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh and the interstate boundaries Assam’s Karimganj, Hailakandi and Cachar districts, Tripura’s Kanchandpur district and Manipur’s Churachandpur district has been sealed during the polling period, Vyas said.
The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) is eyeing to retain power with Chief Minister Zoramthanga seeking re-election from the Aizawl East-1 assembly constituency.
The opposition Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) led by former IPS officer Lalduhoma, which won eight seats in the 2018 assembly polls, was confident to spring up surprises.
While the Congress, which was unseated by the MNF in 2018, is equally confident of bouncing back to power this time.
The BJP has fielded its candidates in 23 assembly constituencies with a special focus on linguistic minority Reang and Chakma inhabited areas.
“No party would get an absolute majority and would require its support to form the new government,” BJP President Vanlalhmuaka said.
The MNF, ZPM and Congress have fielded candidates in all the 40 seats, while the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting four seats and 27 independent candidates are also in the fray.
In the 2018 Mizoram assembly elections,, the Mizo National Front bagged 26 seats with a vote share of 37.8 percent, the Congress secured five seats and the BJP won one seat five years ago.
