Elections to Mizoram’s lone Rajya Sabha seat became a direct contest between the ruling Zoram People’s Movement and the opposition Mizo National Front on Thursday after both the BJP and Congress announced they would abstain from the vote.
The decision by the BJP, which has two legislators in the 40-member Mizoram Legislative Assembly, and the Congress, which has one legislator, effectively narrows the field of competition to candidates fielded by the ruling ZPM and the MNF. On Wednesday, the two parties issued statements confirming that their representatives would not participate in the voting process.
State BJP leaders said that two of the party’s MLAs – K Beichhua, who is also the president of Mizoram BJP, and K Hrahmo – will stay away from the polls as per the directives issued by the party’s national leadership.
The Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) also announced that its Political Affairs Committee (PAC) has decided to abstain from voting. The Congress currently has one MLA, C Ngunlianchunga, who represents the Lawngtlai West constituency.
“Our party has received a formal request from the MNF for the support of the Congress legislators. However, the committee concluded that extending support to either the MNF or the ruling ZPM would amount to indirect support to the BJP as both the parties maintain political links with the NDA,” the Congress said in a statement on Wednesday.
A new controversy emerged on Tuesday when ZPM candidate K. Laltluangkima said during an interview with a local TV channel that any ZPM lawmaker participating in the cross-vote would be treated as invalid.
For the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Mizoram, the ruling ZPM nominated party spokesman K Laltluangkima, while the MNF, the main opposition, nominated lawyer and writer Xothansangi Hamar as its candidate.
