A football player, a radio jockey and a journalist are just a few of the professions that will find space in the new Mizoram legislative assembly.
Donning a blue jersey, Jeje Lalpekhlua raced across fields in India representing various leagues and clubs. Mizoram residents, young and old, would be glued to their televisions, watching with pride as he scored goal after goal and went on to become the second-highest Indian goalscorer in the history of the Indian Super League and the record-highest scorer for Chennaiyin FC.
On December 4, he scored another goal, with 5,415 people choosing him to represent them in the South Tuipui constituency with a close defeat against Dr R Lalthangliana, the Health Minister of the former ministry.
On winning the seat, Lalpekhlua took to his Instagram to thank the voters, saying, “I want to thank the people of South Tuipui wholeheartedly for trusting me to look after the constituency.”
It is not just sports persons that took the spotlight. Former Radio Jockey Baryl Vanneihsangi, before scripting history by becoming the state’s youngest MLA, won people’s hearts with her beauty and melodious voice as she hosted the biggest programs across the state.
But as a candidate, and a winning candidate at that, she proved that it was not that she spoke well, it was also that she spoke the right words at the right time, the kind of words that would make a good state leader.
This year’s assembly line-up could also be mistaken for a list of the state’s best journalists. Lalnghinglova Hmar from ZPM, who was Mizoram’s biggest daily Vanglaini’s former Joint Editor and J Malsawma Vanchhawng, also a former editor at Zonet, in the list of the new MLAs. Also on the list was Vanglaini’s editor and publisher K Sapdanga. Both of Vanglaini’s prized journalists secured a win, while J Malsawma, unfortunately, lost to ZPM’s Chief Ministerial candidate Lalduhawma.
K Sapdanga and Lalnghinglova Hmar are both members of the Mizoram Journalist Association with K.Sapdanga being accorded the title of a prominent journalist, which is a title given to journalists in Mizoram who are above 60 years of age and who worked as a journalist continuously for over thirty years.
Representing a new era, the new assembly members are quite different from their successors, made up of veteran politicians, freedom fighters and former student body presidents. The voting choices show that the citizens are okay with taking risks: more than half of the ZPM candidates who won are first-time politicians with no prior experience in looking after a government.
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The ages of the MLAs are, on average, in their 50s. The oldest MLA is the chief ministerial candidate Lalduhoma, who is 73. The youngest are Baryl Vanneihsangi and Jeje Lalpekhlua, who are both 32 years old.
Of the 40 elected representatives, 24 are first-time MLAs, while the rest 15 were elected in 2018 and continue to hold their seats. The MLAs who continue to hold their seat are Lalchhandama Ralte, Robert Romawia Royte, VL Zaithanzama, Ramthanmawia, Lalrintluanga Sailo, Vanlalhlana, C Lalsawivunga, Lalduhoma, H Lalzirliana, Dr Vanlalthlana, Lalchhuanthanga, K Laldawngliana, C Ngunlianchunga, Lalrinsanga Ralte and Dr K Beichhua. One elected representative, Lalthansanga, had been elected previously to the assembly but not in the recently concluded term.
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