Congress sweeps rural body polls in Mizoram, BJP registers first win in state

The final result for all VCs had not yet been declared by the time of filing this report because of communication problems faced by the election machinery in the remote region, which borders Bangladesh’s eastern Chittagong Hill Tracts.

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The regions in which the Chakma tribe are in majority or large numbers have traditionally been Congress strongholds.

The party has largely won elections there, and has even inducted several Chakma politicians from within it’s fold as Ministers in the state.

The first such Chakma Minister was Nirupam Chakma, who along with several veterans from both the Congress and the MNF joined the BJP in recent months as the party’s senior functionaries from the Centre traveled to Mizoram to boost the party’s grassroots presence.

VC elections are slated to take place in most other parts of Mizoram around April.

This year’s VC elections are unprecedented because of two reasons — the new rural bodies will now have a term of five years (meaning they will still be in power by the next state elections in 2018). Also for the first time, seats are being reserved for women, the number depending on  the size of each VC.