GUWAHATI: The Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), which emerged victorious in the recently concluded Mizoram assembly elections, will form the next government in the state on December 8, an official statement said.
The ZPM unseated the Mizo National Front (MNF) from power in the assembly polls held on November 7, bagging 27 of the total 40 seats. This is the first time that a non-MNF and non-Congress government will be installed in the landlocked northeastern state.
The ZPM called a meeting of the “Val Upa Council, the party’s decision-making body, in Aizawl on Tuesday evening. All MLAs of the party were scheduled to attend.
ZPM stalwart and former Indian Police Service officer Lalduhoma is the chief ministerial candidate. He is likely to meet Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati on Wednesday morning and stake a claim to form the government.
Lalduhoma said on Tuesday that the youths of the state were fed up with the existing political system. He said they expected a new system with new leadership and new principles.
He took potshots at outgoing Chief Minister Zoramthanga, stating that the latter was solely responsible for the MNF’s defeat. He said the ZPM received wholehearted support from women in the polls.
“This time, there were more female voters than their male counterparts. We are grateful to them and committed to working for their upliftment,” he said.
Zoramthanga resigned on Tuesday as MNF president, owning moral responsibility for the party’s poll debacle. He submitted his resignation letter to the party’s senior vice president, Tawnluia.
Zoramthanga is a former insurgent leader-turned-politician who served as chief minister for three terms from 1998 to 2008 and from 2018 to 23. He contested the November 7 elections from the Aizawl East-I seat but lost to ZPM’s Lalthansanga.
The ZPM had swept the polls by bagging 27 of the state’s 40 seats. The MNF was a distant second with 10 seats, followed by BJP 2 and Congress 1. The results were declared on Monday.