Aizawl, Oct 20: Mizoram Chief Minister and ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) President Zoramthanga on Friday claimed that his party would retain power, securing more than 25 seats in the 40-member Assembly in the November 7 elections.
After filing his nomination from the Aizawl East-1 seat, Zoramthanga said that his party’s main opponent was the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) and not the Congress.
“The ZPM has a grassroot base. Every election is challenging, so is this election. However, the MNF will return to power with a comfortable majority. We would win 25 seats in the elections,” the MNF supremo told the media after coming out from the Aizawl Deputy Commissioner’s office, where he submitted his candidatures.
The 79-year-old Zoramthanga is looking for a fourth term as the Chief Minister.
The militant leader-turned-politician since 1987 has been elected to the state Assembly six times and was Chief Minister for three terms (1998-2008 and 2018-2023).
In the 2018 Assembly polls, Zoramthanga won the Aizawl East-1 seat defeating his nearest rival, ZPM-backed independent candidate K Sapdanga, by a margin of 2,504 votes.
Refuting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s accusation that both MNF and ZPM are instrumental in the entry of the BJP in Mizoram and both parties follow the BJP and RSS’ ideologies, he said that these allegations were absolutely wrong and “we always follow MNF ideology”.
He said that the MNF was an ally of the NDA at the Centre and has no electoral and political relations with the Congress.
“The ideologies of the BJP and the MNF are completely different and the MNF is an independent party and does not come under the control of any other party,” Zoramthanga clarified.
During his two-day election campaign (October 16-17) in Mizoram, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the MNF and the ZPM followed the RSS’ and BJP’s ideologies and these two parties were responsible for the entry of the BJP in Mizoram.
In the outgoing Assembly, the ruling MNF has 28 seats, while the ZPM has six seats, the Congress five and the BJP one.
Friday was the last day for filing of nominations. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on Saturday and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is October 23. A total of 116 contestants, including eight women candidates, have filed their nominations till Thursday, election officials said, adding that the latest information are under collection.
IANS