Aizawl: Mizoram’s main opposition party Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) has released a list of its candidates for the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC) polls slated for May 9, a leader said on Sunday.
The party general secretary Lalmuanpuia Punte announced the names of nine candidates for the council polls during a function held at the party office in Chawngte in Lawngtlai district on Saturday, the leader said.
He said that the party will field 9 out of 20 seats.
ZPM, a relatively new party formed in 2017 by several minor parties with a motive to make a non-Congress, non-Mizo National Front (MNF) government in the state, has become the talk of the people as an alternative for the Congress and MNF after it swept the Lunglei Municipal Council (LMC) polls by an astonishing victory winning all the 11 seats recently.
However, the party concentration in the linguistic minority or ADCs areas especially the CADC and Mizoram rural villages is relatively small as compared to the strength of Congress and MNF, which rotationally ruled the state for about 36 years since Mizoram attained statehood in 1987.
The ruling MNF, Congress and BJP have already released lists of their candidates for the CADC polls and they will all contest all 20 seats. The People’s Conference (PC) party is unlikely to contest the council polls.
Polling for the 20-member council will be held on May 9 and the counting of votes will be undertaken on May 11. The last date for filing nomination for the Chakma council polls is fixed on 24 April, while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is 27 April. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on 25 April.
A total of 35,885 electorates, including 17,677 female voters will exercise their franchise in the polls where EVM will be used. The CADC was created under the sixth schedule of the constitution in 1972 for the welfare of the Chakma tribal people in Mizoram.
The council is headquartered at Chawngte or Kamalanagar in south Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district.
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The last council polls held in April 2018 threw up a hung house with the MNF emerging as the single largest party by winning 8 seats, while the Congress bagged 6 and the BJP won 5 seats. Later, the Congress’s tally was increased to 7 after it won a constituency, which was countermanded at the time of the general elections. In course of time, all members of Congress and BJP had defected to MNF making the council become under a complete MNF rule before the governor rule was imposed in December last year. The council is not bound by anti-defection law.
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