Aizawl, Dec 09: Senior Congress leader Lal
Thanhawla is all set to be the next Chief Minister of the tiny
state as his party has stormed into power in Mizoram after a
10-year gap.
The Congress carved out its biggest victory in Mizoram
after it attained statehood in 1987, bagging 32 seats out of
40 and handing over one of the worst defeats to the ruling
Mizo National Front (MNF).
The Congress legislature party is scheduled to meet
tomorrow to formally elect 68-year-old Lal Thanhawla as their
leader after the newly-elected MLAs reach the state capital
from far-flung areas after the declaration of results.
This will be the fourth time that Lal Thanhawla will
assume charge as Chief Minister of the state after having
three previous terms at the helm of the party.
The party sources said after the legislators declare
Lal Thanhawla as their leader, they would stake claim to form
government before the state Governor Lt Gen M M Lakhera and
the swearing-in could be held a day after.
Immediately after his victory, an elated Lal Thanhawla
attributed his party`s astounding success to the "rampant
corruption" of the MNF government which had "frustrated the
people".
"The people have voted for a change and the government
will be development-oriented," he said, adding that his
government would give top priority to uplift poor and
marginal agrarian families, especially in the rural areas.
Talking to media, Lal Thanhawla said that the MNF
government had "neglected" the poor and the Congress would
uplift the poor and downtrodden with the New Land Use Policy
as envisaged in the party manifesto.
All Central programmes would be fully implemented to
ensure that the schemes reached the target population, he
said.
Congress secures 38% vote share
The Congress, which has bagged an
absolute majority in the 40-member Mizoram Assembly, has
secured a vote share of 38 per cent in the state.
The Mizo National Front despite suffering one of the
worst-ever defeats in the December 2 election still managed to
get a 32 per cent of the votes polled. The party only managed
to get three seats.
An interesting feature of the election is the very
narrow margin of victories, particularly by the Congress over
its rivals. For instance, Lal Thanhawla defeated his nearest
UDA rival J Lalchhuana by only 96 votes in South Tuipui seat.
The highest winning margin is in Tuichawng seat where
former minister Nirupam Chakma of the Congress defeated MNF
nominee R M Chakma by a margin of 3,112 votes. While the
lowest margin is in Aizawl South-I seat where UDA`s K
Liantlinga defeated R Vanlalvena of the Congress by 28 votes.
While, the Maraland Democratic Front got one seat in
the elections, the third political force, the United
Democratic Alliance (UDA), bagged four seats and got a vote
share of 22 per cent.
Bureau Report
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