Mizoram Polls: Facing Anti-Incumbency And Strong Opposition, MNF Fields Sitting MLAs
Although the dates for the assembly polls in Mizoram are yet to be announced by the Election Commission, the ruling Mizo National Front finished declaring the candidates for all 40 assembly seats this week. Chief Minister Zoramthanga will contest the Aizawl East-I assembly seat.
Interestingly, the MNF gave tickets to 25 of its 28 MLAs. In the last election, the party had won 26 seats. Later, in the bypolls, it increased its tally to 28, wresting two seats from the main Opposition, Zoram People’s Movement. Home Minister Lalchamliana was not given a ticket as he wanted to give a chance to a new candidate. On the other hand, the Speaker of the assembly, Lalrinliana Sailo, wasn’t given any ticket as the party leadership wasn’t happy with his statement in favour of MNF joining the BJP. This statement was made in April this year during his visit to the USA, drawing sharp reactions. Former minister K Beichhua was already expelled by the party for "anti-party" activities.
The fight for returning to power won’t be easy for the ruling MNF, which is facing an anti-incumbency wave and strong opposition in the form of ZPM. This may be the reason for the ruling party to give tickets to most of its sitting MLAs to prevent any internal rebellion. Facing anti-incumbency, the ruling party has been trying to utilize the turmoil in neighbouring Myanmar and Manipur to fight the polls on the issue of Mizo nationalism. The recent decision of the Zoramthanga-led MNF government not to collect the biometric data of Chin-Kuki refugees coming from Myanmar, ignoring the direction of the Centre, reiterates that MNF wants to use the refugee crisis for the upcoming polls to lessen anti-incumbency. It should be noted that the Chin-Kuki community is ethnically related to the dominant Mizos of the state.
Normalcy Still Eludes Manipur
It has been five months since the ethnic violence broke out between Meiteis and the Kuki-Zomi community. The violence has claimed more than 180 lives, with over 4,000 houses burnt. Unfortunately, even after five months, there are no signs of normalcy returning to the northeastern state of Manipur.
In this ethnic violence, no one community is fully responsible for the violence. The victims belong to both the Meitei and the Kuki-Zomi communities. The urgent need is to bridge the widening gap between the two communities. The Centre had formed a 51-member committee to work in this direction, but it failed as people from either community weren’t satisfied with the panel.
With every passing day, mistrust only keeps growing between the two communities. This needs to be addressed without any further delay, and for this, fresh political initiatives need to be taken by the BJP-led Centre as security forces alone can’t restore peace. The state needs political solutions. But the BJP is hesitating to do so, fearing electoral backlash. The saffron party should keep in mind that this five-month-long ethnic crisis in the state is a blot on the party’s much-touted slogan of "double engine government".
Mizoram Elections: Boost for BJP in Mizoram
As expected, expelled MNF MLA K Beichhua joined the BJP this week. He is the sitting MLA from the Siaha assembly constituency. Last time, the saffron party was able to open its account for the first time in the state after its candidate Buddhadhan Chakma won the religious minority Buddhist Chakma-dominated Tuichawng assembly seat.
The Siaha seat, along with the Palak seat, comes under the Siaha district, where the ethnic minority Maras are dominant. The district lies in south Mizoram. This year in the Village Council polls of the Mara Autonomous District Council in April, the saffron party emerged as the largest party by securing a majority in 41 VCs out of 99. A section then attributed this to K Beichhua, who supported the BJP without joining the party. True, Beichhua played a role, but it can’t be denied that the saffron party had been gaining ground among the Maras even before Beichhua supported the party.
No doubt that Beichhua officially joining the BJP is a boost for the saffron party, which has been looking to increase seats in the northeastern state. It is expected that the saffron party is going to give a ticket to him from the Siaha seat. Last time, the BJP’s S Vadyu bagged 14.22% votes in the Siaha seat and came third.
Congress's Call For United Front
Congress working president and former minister Deborah Marak has called for a “united front” of all Opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls to defeat the National People’s Party in the Tura seat in Meghalaya. The Lok Sabha constituency is represented by Agatha K Sangma, sister of Chief Minister and NPP national president Conrad Sangma. This shows that Congress is adopting a soft stance towards other opposition parties, particularly those who are constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
However, it seems the call of the Congress for a “united front” against NPP in the Tura Lok Sabha seat has no takers among the Opposition parties. The Voice of the People Party, which has 4 MLAs in the state assembly, has said that it is going to contest the Lok Sabha elections alone. On the other hand, TMC too isn’t that interested in toeing the line of Congress. There have been reports that TMC wants to contest Lok Sabha elections from the state too, though nothing is finalized yet as the party isn’t very sure of doing well after its failure in the assembly elections this year, despite creating a big hype in the media.
Interestingly, Deborah said that anyone who wants to return to the grand old party is welcome. This statement is important as there have been reports that former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma is once again looking for a better option to leave his present party, TMC. With a large section of the state still viewing TMC as a West Bengal-based party, it seems that Sangma isn’t very sure about his electoral prospects for remaining in the party.
The author is a political commentator.
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