‘Vote for change’: In Mizoram, a young party promises a fresh start for the state

Earlier this year, the results of a local body poll in usually politically staid Mizoram created a stir. The Zoram People’s Movement party, hastily formed before the last Assembly election in 2018, swept aside the ruling Mizo National Front and the Congress to win all 11 seats in the municipal polls in the state’s largest district of Lunglei.

It was a thumping victory by all measures: the party secured nearly half of the votes polled in the election.

Observers of the state say this victory was no fluke. Ahead of an imminent Assembly election, it firmly signalled the arrival of the ZPM as the primary contender to the MNF in the state – an assessment endorsed by Chief Minister Zoramthanga of the MNF.

In a television interview earlier this month, Zoramthanga agreed, “The main opponent will be perhaps the ZPM, not the Congress.”

Among the five states to see Assembly election next month, Mizoram votes on November 7.

Building on a sparkling debut

The ZPM started as a collective. Under its banner, several independent candidates fought the election in 2018. The collective accounted for more than 22% of the total votes in the election and eight of its candidates got elected to Mizoram’s 40-seater Assembly.

Its formidable show...

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