AIZAWL:
Chaotic scenes erupted at the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Siaha on April 13 after candidates in fray for the Mara Autonomous District Council (MADC) seat flocked the office to file their nominations on the last day for filling the papers.
Candidates were asked to submit their nomination papers by 3 pm on Wednesday, but 83 candidates from four political parties gathered to file their papers at the same time causing major commotion in the office.
Earlier, the filing of the nominations began on April 5 after the Mizoram State Election Commission’s (SEC) issued notification for the polls, but major political parties failed to announce the names of their official candidates till the last moment.
While some parties, such as the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) announced their candidature on Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) could only manage to announce theirs on Wednesday.
The MNF is contesting in all the 25 seats of the council, informed vice president of the party and former Lok Sabha member Vanlalzawma.
While the opposition Indian National Congress (INC) fielded nominees in 23 seats and supported two independent candidates, the BJP, which has been ruling the MADC for the past two years, also contesting in all the seats.
Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), which is contesting in the MADC polls for the first, time fielded eight candidates.
The ZPM, which was registered as a political party by the Election Commission in 2019, had contested the election to the 40-member Mizoram assembly on November 28, 2018 as a group of independents and had won eight seats to become the second largest party in the assembly.
The young party, however, is yet to have any footprints in the Mara, Lai and Chakma autonomous district councils.
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 six seats while the Mara Democratic Front (MDF) won two 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 was initiated by the state government which resulted in all the 16 INC members of district council (MDC) joining the BJP and forming the government two years back.
The current Chief Executive Member (CEM) is N Zakhai of the BJP government at with H Sahlo as the council’s chairman.