Aizawl: Officials of the Election Commission of India (ECI) led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar will visit Mizoram on August 29 to review the election preparedness of the state. The state is going to polls later this year, government officials said. The election commission is likely to meet the representatives of the political parties and will hold talks with administration and police officials during the visit.
The 20-member ECI delegation will visit Mizoram on a two-day tour—17 officials of the ECI to accompany the commission on the visit. Meanwhile, Mizoram chief secretary Renu Sharma convened a meeting to discuss the preparatory arrangement given the visit of the election commission. The review meeting was attended by the state Director General of Police, General Administration department commissioner and secretary, secretary to Governor, Information and Public Relations department secretary and top officials from the election departments.
It should be mentioned that the 40-member Mizoram assembly elections are due later this year. Political parties are already gearing up for the expected election in October- November.
Interestingly, Mizoram BJP spokesperson K Laldinthara recently said that no one can form a government in the state with the saffron party. The BJP leader claimed that many regional parties like ZPM and others are willing to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The ruling MNF is also currently a part of the NDA. But it has voted against the NDA during the latest no-confidence motion in parliament on Manipur’s issue. The MNF said that they voted against the BJP government for its failure to handle the crisis in Manipur, and they will give issue-based support to the NDA. It should be mentioned that the saffron party parted with its alliance NPP in Meghalaya during the assembly election held in February this year.
It would be interesting to see how the BJP makes its political equations in Mizoram for the upcoming assembly election. The Mizoram BJP leader also added that without the BJP, there will be no government in Mizoram, regardless of who wins more seats in the future election. It should be mentioned that BJP swept the election to the Mara Autonomous District Council (MADC) in April this year by bagging 41 of the 99 village councils.
The ruling party of the state, headed by CM Zoramthanga Mizo National Front (MNF), could only manage to win 25 village councils, while Congress and the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) secured eight and two village councils, respectively. Out of the total 492 village council seats, BJP won 232 seats, which includes 47 seats reserved for women. This shows the penetration of the saffron party in the Christian-dominated Northeastern state.
BJP leaders hope to repeat the council election performances in the upcoming assembly election. But the ruling MNF claims that the situation is completely different between village council elections and assembly elections.
