The results of the first Lunglei Municipal Council election were declared this week and the Zoram People’s Movement won all the 11 seats. This is a major boost for the opposition party, which was formed in 2017 as an alliance of six parties. Surprisingly, the ruling Mizo National Front failed to even open its account — undoubtedly a big setback to it.
The state Lunglei Municipal Council was formed in 2022. This is the second municipal council in the state after the Aizawl Municipal Council. ZPM secured 49.31% votes while MNF polled 29.4%. Congress, which also contested all the seats, got 20%. The BJP contested 9 seats and managed to get only 0.75% votes.
This is for the first time that ZPM got a victory in any municipal body or autonomous district council. In the last assembly polls, ZPM emerged as the second largest block by winning 8 seats, beating the then incumbent Congress, which could secure only 5. In 2019, the Election Commission of India registered ZPM as a political party.
Definitely, this result is going to have a strong impact in the state, which is likely to see assembly polls this year. The result challenges the dominance of MNF, which is looking for a second term. This indicates that there is an anti-incumbency against Chief Minister Zoramthanga’s government and gives energy to the ZPM which was formed as an alternative against the MNF and the Congress. Importantly, LMC covers four assembly constituencies — Lunglei North, Lunglei South, Lunglei East and Lunglei West. Currently, all these are represented by the MNF. In the current assembly, ZPM has 6 members.
TIPRA Motha Moves High Court Demanding Elections In Village Councils
The main Opposition party in the Tripura assembly, the TIPRA Motha led by royal scion Pradyot Debbarma, has moved the Tripura High Court demanding elections in the Village Councils falling under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council. The elections to these Village Councils have been pending since March 2021. There are 587 Village Councils in the state.
Initially, the Covid pandemic had been cited as a reason for not holding the polls in time. Notably, in April 2021, general elections of the TTAADC were held where the TIPRA Motha-led alliance won 18 seats out of the total 28. Later, at the end of the year, the civic body polls, including the Agartala Municipal Corporation, were held. In June last year, bypolls in 4 assembly constituencies too were held. Only the elections to the Village Council polls weren’t held.
Last July, responding to a writ petition, the High Court had ordered the State Election Commission and the administration to hold the polls by the first week of November. But another High Court order directing enrollment of the Bru settlers, who were displaced in Mizoram, in the electoral rolls of the state forced the State Election Commission to postpone the polls.
Politically speaking, the delay is also because the ruling BJP didn’t want these polls to happen before the assembly elections. It was fully aware that it wouldn't perform well in the tribal belt if the Village Council polls were held — and this would have been a double setback to it ahead of the state elections because it had lost the TTAADC polls already. The ruling party avoided the Village Council polls on the pretext of Covid and other technicalities. The common people living in the tribal belt are facing problems as the local governance has completely broken down. With no representatives in the Village Councils, many developmental works at the ground level in the hills are pending.
BJP In Sikkim Upping The Ante Against Ally And Ruling SKM
At the 44th Foundation Day celebration, the BJP’s Sikkim in-charge Dilip Jaiswal attacked the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha government led by CM Prem Singh Tamang on the issue of development and corruption. Jaiswal said development didn’t happen the way it should have been. SKM is a constituent of the North East Democratic Alliance led by the BJP, which supports the Tamang-led government.
The state elections are only a year away. With this attack, the BJP is giving a signal to the SKM that it shouldn’t take the support of it granted. Importantly, the BJP also lent support to the opposition Sikkim Democratic Front of former CM Pawan Kumar Chamling on the issue of political violence. Jaiswal attacked its alliance partner SKM for allegedly carrying out violence on SDF, saying in a democracy every party has the right to carry out activities.
It is to be mentioned that earlier SDF was a member of the NEDA and it also supported the NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu last year. Apart from this, BJP got a boost when SIBLAC convenor Tsheten Tashi Bhutia joined the saffron party. The Sikkim Bhutia Lepcha Apex Committee is a group striving for the political rights of ethnic groups of Sikkimese, Bhutia-Lepcha (BL) and Nepalis of Sikkimese origin. Although Tsheten confessed that he has been a member of BJP since 2019 but he never felt it to say in public as he held no post in the party.
The BJP has been targeting the Northeast, which has 25 seats in the Lok Sabha. It is already into poll mode. Currently, it has 14 seats and it is looking to increase its tally in the region. Sikkim has only one seat in the Lok Sabha — which hasn't been won by the saffron party till date. Currently, the seat is held by the SKM.
The author is a political commentator.
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