AIZAWL:
The Mara Autonomous District Council (MADC) polls have thrown up a hung house with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerging as the single largest party, officials said, on May 9. No party was able to get a clear majority in the polls, officials said.
While the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 12 seats in the 25-member council that went to polls on May 5, the Mizo National Front (MNF) was second with nine seats.
The remaining four seats were won by Indian National Congress (INC). The Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), in its electoral debut in the Council, however, drew a blank.
Altogether, 85 candidates were in the fray for the polls, of which five were independent candidates.
The BJP and the MNF contested from all the 25 seats, while the Congress, which had been ruling the MADC for years, contested 23 seats and supported two independent candidates.
The Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), which had entered the autonomous district council polls for the first time, had fielded eight candidates.
Even though, MNF and BJP are allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), sources in the state BJP ruled out any possibility of forging an alliance to form the government in the council.
“The MNF, though is part of the NDA, is our biggest rival in the state. So, there is very little chances of forging an alliance. We are the single largest party, and is sure to form the government and will find ways,” a state BJP leader said.
Meanwhile, political analysts said there is high possibility of the BJP and Congress forming a post-poll alliance.
The MADC is one of the three autonomous district councils, established under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and comprising the southern tip of Mizoram’s Siaha district, bordering Myanmar.
In the last general elections to the MADC held in 2017, the Indian National Congress (INC) won the polls by bagging 16 seats, followed by the MNF which won 6 seats while the Mara Democratic Front (MDF) won 2 seats and an independent candidate was also elected.
The MDF merged with the BJP on July 12, 2017 with the founder president of the party joining the MNF later.
The INC-led government at the MADC was facing problems due to an inquiry into the allegations of corruption and maladministration being initiated by the state government which resulted in all the 16 INC members of district council (MDC) joining the BJP and forming the BJP government two years back.
The government in the MADC was reportedly saved from the possibilities of being sacked after the INC members converted the government into the BJP government by the saffron party that is ruling the country.