Aizawl: As many as 211 contestants have filed their nominations for the Mizoram assembly election, state election department officials said on Friday, the last day to do so.
The ruling Congress, the opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have fielded candidates in all the 40 constituencies, while the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) will contest 35 seats, sources in the parties said.
The Zoramthar (New Mizoram), floated by Reverend Zaichhawna Hlawndo, said it had fielded 24 candidates.
The People’s Representation for Identity and Status of Mizoram (PRISM) has fielded 15 nominees, while the National People’s Party (NPP) nominated candidates in nine seats and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in five seats, the parties’ sources said.
Some candidates are contesting from two seats, including Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla who has submitted his nominations from his home turf of Serchhip and Champhai South constituencies.
Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) chief ministerial candidate Lalduhoma has also filed his nominations from Serchhip and Aizawl West-I seats, election office sources said. PRISM president Vanlalruata will try his electoral luck from Serchhip and Aizawl North-I.
As per the EC schedule, the nomination papers will be scrutinised on Monday.
EC team to hold talks with officials, leaders
A high-level team of Election Commission (EC) officials arrived in Mizoram on Friday to hold talks with top government officials and leaders of civil societies over the crisis that has rocked the poll arrangements in the state, official sources said.
The team, led by Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain, is visiting the state two days after Chief Electoral Officer S B Shashank was summoned to Delhi by the EC, following a massive agitation for his ouster by NGO Coordination Committee – a conglomerate of civil societies and student organisations.
Shashank had allegedly sought deployment of additional central armed police forces (CAPF) in the state and complained to the EC that the state’s former principal secretary Lalnunmawia Chuaungo was interfering with the poll process.
Chuaungo, a native of Mizoram and a Gujarat-cadre IAS officer was relieved of his duties earlier this month. The committee, along with other political leaders, had been demanding Shashank’s exit from the state since then.
The NGO also demanded that 11,232 Bru voters lodged in six Tripura relief camps be allowed to exercise their franchise at their respective polling stations in Mizoram and not in Tripura as committed by the poll panel in 2014.
Thousands of people from the Bru community had fled Mizoram in 1997 following ethnic clashes. They have since been lodged in six relief camps in Tripura.
A three-member EC team that visited the state on Tuesday night held talks with the government officials and the NGO to resolve the crises in the poll-bound state. The meeting, however, remained inconclusive as the team said the final call would be made by the EC. (PTI)
