MNF out, ZPM roars to a majority in Mizoram
The Zoram People’s Movement emerged as winner in Mizoram's assembly polls, securing 27 out of 40 seats and breaking the four-decade hegemony of ruling parties
The Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), Mizoram’s youngest party, capped a stunning rise in the state’s politics — from its formation in 2017 to becoming the principal opposition in 2018 — by sweeping the assembly elections on Monday, comfortably passing the halfway mark and winning 27 of the 40 assembly seats. In the process, the six-year-old political outfit led by Lalduhoma, a former police officer who was once part of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s security detail and turned politician in 1984, broke the hegemony of both the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) and the Congress that have taken turns to rule the state for the past four decades.
In results that were declared close to a month after counting day on November 7, the scale of the ZPM win reduced the Mizo National Front to a tally of 10 seats, down from the 26 that it won in 2018. The BJP, that had won one seat in 2018, won two seats, and the Congress, once a heavyweight in the state, fell from five seats in 2018 to one seat.
In terms of vote share, the ZPM received 37.86% in comparison to 23% in 2018. MNF, which secured 37.7% of total votes five years ago saw it slide to 35.10% this time. The BJP, which bagged 8% of total votes in 2018 managed to get 5% this time and the Congress that got 30% of total votes five years ago saw it fall to 20.82% this time.
Prominent candidates to lose in the ZPM wave included MNF president and chief minister Zoramthanga who lost his Aizawl East-I seat by over 2,000 votes. In contrast, Lalduhoma won his Serchhip seat by a margin of 3,000 votes.
The ZPM was founded in 2017, after six regional parties, Mizoram People’s Conference, Zoram Nationalist Party, Zoram Exodus Movement, Zoram Decentralisation Front, Zoram Reformation Front and Mizoram People’s party, came together. Two years later, the ZPM won eight seats, and became the largest opposition to the Zoramthanga-led MNF government.
The central figure in the ZPM, and now the chief minister in waiting, is 74-year-old Lalduhoma who became an Indian Police Service officer in 1977, was part of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s security detail in 1982, before he quit and joined the Congress. He was elected unopposed to the Lok Sabha in 1984, but became the first member of Parliament to be disqualified under the anti-defection law in November 1988, after he resigned from the party.
Soon after the Mizoram Peace Accord, an agreement between the Union government and the Mizo National Front to end the two decades-old insurgency in Mizoram, was signed in 1986, Lalduhoma joined the MNF. By 1997 however, Lalduhoma broke away and formed the Mizo National Front (Nationalist) that was renamed the Zoram Nationalist Party later that year.
The ZPM fought the elections by highlighting the lack of development, need for financial reforms, and allegations of corruption against Zoramthanga, and speaking to HT on Monday, Lalduhoma said, “Mizoram’s financial condition is very poor and this is something we will be inheriting from the previous government. Despite this we will honour or commitment made to farmers to procure ginger, turmeric, chilly and broom sticks at a predetermined prices.”
He said that financial reform was on the top of their agenda, and it was likely “austerity measures will be put in place”. “An expert committee will be formed for this. Our next focus will be against corruption and we will give general consent to the CBI to probe cases,” he said. He added that while both the Congress and the BJP may want to be part of his government, “there was no need” because of their absolute majority.
According to the 2023-24 budget presented by Zoramthanga, who also handled the finance ministry, the state’s fiscal deficit is estimated at 3.5% of GSDP ( ₹1,247 crore). In 2022-23, according to the revised estimates, fiscal deficit was expected to be 7% of GSDP, almost twice the budget estimate of 3.1%.
Revenue surplus in 2023-24 is estimated to be 1.2% of GSDP ( ₹418 crore), a decrease from the revised estimates for 2022-23 (2% of GSDP). In 2022-23, the revenue surplus at the revised stage was 57.5% lower than the budget estimate (3.6% of GSDP).
Hours after the verdict became clear, Zoramthanga met governor Hari Babu Kambhampati at Raj Bhawan in Aizawl, with the ZPM slated to stake formal claim on Wednesday after a meeting of senior office bearers and newly elected legislators.
MNF vice-president Vanlalzawma said, “We had guessed two or three weeks ago that this (MNF’s loss) could happen. It was clear that if voters don’t give us the mandate, they would switch to ZPM. We accept the verdict and will regroup and assess the outcome.”
For the Congress that had hoped to capture the anti-incumbency against the MNF and return to power after five years, the result puts a further dampener on its prospects in the Northeast where it is quickly losing relevance.
“We accept the verdict, but this is not the end of the world. The Congress has withstood many upsets in the past and we will bounce back,” said Mizoram Congress president Lalsawta.
The BJP had also hoped for more in the one state in the region where it is not part of government in any capacity, and while it won its first seat in 2018, it could only bring that tally up to two. “We had expected at least three seats. It was a close contest for a few other seats, but they didn’t go in our favour. We would be happy to be part of the ZPM government to bring all-round development to Mizoram with help from the Centre,” BJP Mizoram unit chief Vanlalhmuaka said.
“It was clear that the contest would be between MNF and ZPM. But the results showed the new regional party found great favour with voters especially the youth who wanted a change from the cycle of MNF and Congress governments. There was a wave in favour of ZPM and the results show that it was translated to votes,” said J Doungel, professor of political science at Mizoram University.
