R Lalthangliana, who was a cabinet minister in the Zoramthanga-led Mizo National Front government, which was swept out of power in 2023, now returns to the Mizoram legislative assembly after winning the Dampa bypoll on Friday.
Lalthangliana won the Dampa bypoll, defeating the ruling Zoram People’s Movement candidate, gospel singer Vanlalsailova, by a margin of 562 votes. With this, the MNF has retained one of the only 10 seats it had won in 2023 amidst a ZPM wave in the state.
For Lalthangliana, this is going to be his seventh time as a legislator. When the ZPM swept the state in 2023, he had lost his South Tuipui seat to ZPM candidate and political debutante, popular footballer Jeje Lalpekhlua. He said he sees his victory as a return of regard for political experience and seniority.
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“The ZPM had promised many things before the 2023 election, but the commitments are yet to be fulfilled. People are already dissatisfied after two years. I travelled across the entire constituency several times since the moment that my nomination was finalised, and I’m the seniormost legislator from our party. I have been an MLA since the 1980s and a cabinet minister for 15 years. So people have voted for someone with experience and maturity,” he told The Indian Express.
The MNF is taking this win as a positive signal ahead of two local elections due in the coming months: the Lai Autonomous District Council election set to take place next month, and the Aizawl municipal corporation election early next year.
“We read this as a reflection of the mood and opinion of the people of Mizoram at large, since this outcome has come after two years of the current government. This outcome will directly impact the upcoming elections,” said MNF MLA Robert Romawia Royte.
The outcome maintains the status quo in the 40-member Mizoram legislative assembly, where the ZPM holds 27 seats, the MNF 10, the BJP two and the Congress one. The ZPM had won the 2023 legislative assembly election, which was its first as a recognised political party, shattering a decades-long pattern of the state swinging between the MNF and Congress periodically.
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While the ZPM came in second in the bypoll, the Congress came in third with its candidate, another former minister, John Rotluangliana, and the BJP’s Lalhmingthanga came in fourth.
