Elections for the 40-member Mizoram assembly saw the start of the vote count on Monday. A senior official with the election commission stated that the counting process started at 8 am and that postal ballots will be counted for the first 30 minutes.
Forty counting halls and thirteen centers around the state will host the counting, according to the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Mizoram. In 40 counting halls throughout the state, there will be 399 EVM tables and 56 postal vote tables. According to the state election commission, about 4000 workers will be engaged in the vote counting process.
Now that the Congress has taken Telangana from the BRS and a saffron wave has swept the Hindi heartland, BJP is expected to announce its mandate in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, and Mizoram is expected to announce its mandate on Monday, all eyes are on the Northeast.
The Election Commission received representations from civil society citing a significant day in the Christian-majority state’s religious calendar, which led to the tiny Northeast state’s counting—which was originally set for December 3, Sunday—along with four other states being pushed back by one day.
The Election Commission formally announced on November 29 that the state’s vote counting would be postponed until Monday in response to pleas from political parties and civil society organizations, who cited Sunday’s unique significance for the people of Mizoram.
In the northeastern state that chose its 40-member legislative assembly on November 7, four prominent candidates are in the running. These are the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), the Congress, the BJP, and the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF).
Earlier, on Sunday, the chief ministerial face of the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) and party candidate of Serchhip constituency, Lalduhoma, voiced confidence in the party forming a ‘stable’ government in the state. He said the exit poll predictions, released on Thursday, were based on scientific methodology and were ‘most reliable’.