Lalduhoma-led government to take oath in Mizoram on Friday; Zoramthanga quits as MNF chief

Guwahati: The Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) government led by Lalduhoma in Mizoram will take the oath of office on Friday (December 8) in Aizawl.

Lalduhoma, the 73-year-old IPS officer-turned-politician, is likely to meet Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday to stake his claim to form the next government. The newly elected MLAs of ZPM are scheduled to meet to elect their leader before staking a claim to form the new government.

The ZPM stormed into power on Monday by winning 27 out of 40 Assembly seats and unseated the Zoramthanga-led Mizo National Front (MNF) government. The MNF bagged only 10 seats while the BJP increased its tally from one in 2018 to two. The Congress, which was in power five times in Mizoram since 1986, managed to win only one seat.

The Lalduhoma-led government is going to be the first non-MNF, non-Congress government in Mizoram.

Observers attributed the ZPM's victory to anti-incumbency against MNF and the new party's promise of a "new system to get rid of both MNF and Congress."

Zoramthanga quits

Zoramthanga, who also lost the election from his seat, resigned as the president of MNF. The 79-year-old insurgent-leader-turned-politician took responsibility for the defeat. The party on Monday held a meeting in which preliminary discussions were held about the reasons leading to the party's debacle in the elections.