Assembly Election Results 2023: Meet Lalduhoma, the former cop set to become Mizoram’s next CM

The Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) has won the Mizoram Assembly elections with a landslide victory, securing 27 of the total 40 seats. With this, the northeastern state is poised to get a chief minister who is neither from the Congress nor Mizo National Front (MNF) for the first time in three decades. ZPM chief Lalduhoma, a former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, will be Mizoram’s next CM. He will meet the governor in the coming days to stake a claim to form the government. How did parties fare in the Mizoram Assembly elections? Who is Lalduhoma, the state’s next CM? Let’s take a closer look. Mizoram Assembly Election Results 2023 ZPM bagged a 37.86 per cent vote share in the Assembly elections. The outgoing MNF was reduced to just 10 seats, with a 35.10 per cent vote share. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress could manage to clinch only two and one seat, respectively. Besides his MNF losing the elections, Mizoram’s outgoing CM Zoramthanga could not even secure his seat. He lost to ZPM’s Lalthansanga by 2,101 votes from the Aizawl East-I constituency. The outgoing CM, who tendered his resignation to Governor Dr Hari Babu Kambhampati at Raj Bhavan on Monday (4 December), told reporters that anti-incumbency and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were behind his party’s defeat in the polls.

#WATCH | Aizawl: Outgoing Mizoram CM Zoramthanga says, "Because of the anti-incumbency effect and the people are not satisfied with my performance so I lost... I accept the verdict of the people and I hope that the next government will perform well... It (the reason) is the… pic.twitter.com/l8mN6aAXfo

— ANI (@ANI) December 4, 2023

Lalduhoma retained his Serchhip seat by 2,982 votes against MNF candidate J Malsawmzuala Vanchhawng. Who is Lalduhoma? Lalduhoma has broken the tradition of power changing hands between the Congress and the MNF since Mizoram’s formation in 1987. Since 1993, the CM’s chair has alternated between Congress’s Lalthanhawla and MNF’s Zoramthanga, as per Indian Express. However, this will finally change. As an IPS officer, Lalduhoma served as security in-charge of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He left the service to join the Congress in 1984 and got elected from Mizoram’s lone Lok Sabha seat later that year, reported Indian Express. Lalduhoma, who reportedly has a BA degree from Shillong’s North East Hill University, played a key role in the birth of the Mizoram state. As per The Quint, he was sent by the Congress government at the Centre to meet Mizo militant leader Laldenga in London and convince him for peace discussions. The Mizo Peace Accord was signed in 1986, ending the 20-year-long insurgency led by Laldenga, reported Deccan Herald (DH). In 1988, Lalduhoma became the first MP to be disqualified under the anti-defection law after he quit Congress. He was briefly a part of the MNF, however, the ex-cop later founded his party – the Zoram Nationalist Party – and was elected as MLA in 2003. Lalduhoma formed the Zoram People’s Movement a year ahead of the Assembly elections in 2018. At the time, it was a coalition of six smaller regional parties and civil society groups. The ZPM was not a recognised party during the 2018 polls and its candidates had to fight as Independents. It became a recognised party only in 2019. Lalduhoma had to contest the Serchhip by-election in 2021, which he won, after he was disqualified from the Assembly for “defecting” to the ZPM after being elected as an Independent, as per Indian Express. Lalduhoma’s ‘zero tolerance for corruption’ The ZPM’s thumping triumph reveals that Lalduhoma has been successful in his bid to project himself as the alternative to CM Zoramthanga. Speaking to Hindustan Times (HT) after the Assembly results, Lalduhoma said his government will focus on farmers and fiscal reforms as the “state’s finances are in shambles”.

“We will constitute an expert committee and put fiscal reforms in place. Our government will adopt a policy of zero tolerance for corruption and grant permission to the CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] to act on it,” he added. The ZPM chief also blamed Zoramthanga for MNF’s loss, accusing the outgoing CM of “corruption, nepotism, and favouritism.” Lalduhoma’s party has promised to provide better development and governance in Mizoram. During the elections, the ZPM adopted a middle path on ideological issues against MNF’s hard stance on Mizo nationalism, according to Economic Times (ET). The party also tried to corner MNF, claiming it had lost its regional character by being a part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), reported Indian Express.  There have been speculations about the party tying up with the BJP now. However, Lalduhoma has maintained that he would not join hands with either national party. “Both the BJP and Congress have been propagating this false propaganda that they will have some tie-up with ZPM. Why should we join hands with the BJP when we have an absolute majority? There is no need for that,” the next CM of Mizoram told HT. With inputs from agencies