Maintaining its wave, the ruling party in Mizoram, Mizo National Front (MNF) on Tuesday was able to earn a thumping victory in the Lai Autonomous District Council (LADC) polls.
According to the poll results, announced by the state election commission after counting on Tuesday, the MNF, which fielded candidates in all the 25 seats, swept the LADC polls by winning 20 seats.
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which contested in 17 seats and Congress, which fielded 14 nominees, managed to win 1 seat each.
A total of 3 candidates were declared elected of which 1 was supported by Congress.
Of the 22 sitting members, who have contested the polls, only 10 people, including the incumbent Chief Executive Member (CEM) T. Zakunga of BJP and the sitting council chairman V. Zirsanga of MNF retained their seats.
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Among the 25 elected members, there are 12 new faces and 3 former members.
T. Zakunga defeated his lone rival N.Ngunhenga of the MNF by a margin of 164 votes.
At least 72 candidates, including 16 independent, were in the fray for the LADC polls held on December 4.
A total of 85.09% of votes were polled out of 51,456 voters including 26,104 female voters.
In the last council polls held in 2015, Congress won a majority by winning 16 seats while MNF bagged 8 seats and one independent candidate was elected.
However, the composition of the council has shuffled several times during five years due to defection.
Before the election, MNF had the highest members at 11, followed by BJP, which has 9 members and the Congress has only 5.
Created under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution in 1972, the LADC has 25 elected members and 2 nominated members.
The council headquarters is in Lawngtlai in the southern part of Mizoram, bordering Myanmar.