GUWAHATI: Amid the perception that the Mizoram elections will throw up a fractured mandate, the exit polls were out on Thursday with most of them giving an edge to the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF).
However, the Mizos at large, including political parties and various organisations, are hardly bothered.
They will hit the streets in state capital Aizawl on Friday as the Election Commission (EC) has not rescheduled the vote-counting date which is a Sunday. The Mizos consider Sunday as a sacred day. After the election schedule was announced, they had appealed to the EC to reschedule the counting date, stating that church services would be affected if the votes are counted on December 3. The EC has remained unmoved.
The NGO Co-Ordination Committee (NGOCC) is organising the protest from 11 am to 2 pm. It invited all Mizos to participate in it to “safeguard the sacred day of the Christians”. Five major NGOs are part of NGOCC.
The MNF said it would take part in the protest.
“We all had appealed to the EC to reschedule the counting date. As that hasn’t happened, we will take part in the protest tomorrow,” MNF general secretary VL Krosshnehzova told The New Indian Express.
He also said that the MNF was not surprised by the exit poll predictions.
“The exit poll predictions are on expected lines. We know we will retain power,” he added.
The Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), which is a conglomerate of some regional forces and had thrown up a challenge to the MNF, said it would like to wait for the results day.
“The agencies conducting exit polls may give any number of seats to any party but I don’t want to make any comment until the results are announced. I am not counting the chickens before the hen hatches,” ZPM’s chief ministerial candidate Lalduhoma said.
“Let the D Day come,” he added.
The Congress is not too optimistic about its prospects. “We may, at the most, get 10-13 seats,” party leader Dr Lallianchhunga said.