Aizawl: Mizoram state Election Commission on Thursday announced elections to 99 village councils within Mara Autonomous District Council (MADC) in south Mizoram’s Siaha district to be held on April 18.
Of the 591 seats, voting will be held for 492 seats and the remaining 99 seats- one each in village councils- are ‘nominated’ seats, state election commissioner Laima Chozah told a news conference here.
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Out of the 492 elected seats, 99 or one each in 99 village councils are reserved for women, he said.
Chozah said that polling for the 99 villages councils (492 seats) in the Mara Council will be held on April 18 between 7 am and 5 pm where Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used.
Counting of votes will be undertaken the same day as soon as polling is over, he said.
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The last date for filing nominations is fixed on March 30, while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 3, he said.
Scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on March 31 and the formation of the executive body is scheduled to be completed latest by April 21, Chozah said.
According to the latest roll published on March 17, altogether there are 43,120 electorates, including 22,326 female voters in 99 village councils.
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New Siaha ‘W’ village council has the highest number of voters at 1,186, followed by College Vaih (1,065) and Council Vaih (968), while Supha village council has the least number of voters at 68.
There are 8 seats in New Siaha ‘W’, of which one each is nominated and reserved for women.
Supha has 4 seats, including 1 reserved seat and 1 nominated seat.
There are 14,154 household families in 99 village councils within the MADC area, Chozah said.
The state election commissioner said that the State Election Commission (SEC) will also hold elections to the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC) in Lawngtlai district in the southern part of the state next month.
The 20- member council currently is under the governor’s rule.
Three national parties- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Congress and National People’s Party (NPP) are currently active in Mizoram, according to the SEC.
There are three recognised state parties- Mizo National Front (MNF), which is now in power in the state, Mizoram People’s Conference (MPC), which was rechristened as People’sConference in 2020, and Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP).
The ZNP along with other minor parties had merged into the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) in 2017.
There are four registered unrecognised parties in the state- Hmar People’s Convention (HPC), Maraland Democratic Front (MDF), People’s Representation for Identity and Status of Mizoram (PRISM) and ZPM.
The MDF had merged with the BJP in October 2017, while PRISM merged with PC in 2020.