India
Five-time chief minister Lal Thanhawla had lost both the seats in Champhai South and Serchhip. Until 3:20 pm, Congress won only 5 seats in the state.
Guwahati: The Northeast has, at last, become ‘Congress mukt’ after the oldest political party of the country lost in the Assembly Election 2018 in Mizoram to Mizo National Front (MNF).
As the counting of votes for the 40-member Mizoram Legislative Assembly is underway on Tuesday, it has become clear that the MNF will be ousting the Lal Thanhawla-led Congress to form the government in the Christian-dominated state.
MNF, which is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has already won 26 seats at the time of writing this article.
: Celebration outside Mizo National Front (MNF) office in Aizawl. The party has won 14 seats out of 40 & is leading on 9 seats in Mizoram. pic.twitter.com/zJwcZKLbRh
— ANI (@ANI)Five-time chief minister Lal Thanhawla had lost both the seats in Champhai South and Serchhip. While Thanhawla lost the Champhai South seat to MNF candidate TJ Lalnuntluanga by 1049 votes, the Serchhip seat was lost to Zoram People's Movement’s Lalduhoma by 410 votes.
Until 3:20 pm, Congress won only 5 seats in the state.
Meanwhile, BJP has opened its account in Mizoram after its candidate Buddha Dhan Chakma won the Tuichawng seat. Chakma, who secured 11,171 votes, defeating MNF’s Rasik Mohan by 1,516 votes.
During the 2014 general election, BJP had snatched all the states in the northeastern region from Congress and Mizoram was the latter’s last bastion.
After forming governments in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, the saffron party planned to set up its organisational base in Mizoram.
Unfortunately, the BJP was not able to make any mark in the state during the earlier elections. But this time, the party did not take any chance and fielded 39 candidates and finally started gaining popularity in the state.
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