ZPM candidate wins AMC bypoll

H. Lalremtluanga of the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), ruling in the state has been elected in the by-election to ward no.6 of the Aizawl Municipal Corporation (AMC) held on Thursday last and for which counting of votes was undertaken on Monday. ZPM is ruling in the state government while Mizo National Front (MNF) is ruling in the AMC. Lalremtluanga bagged 2,354 votes and defeated his nearest rival and independent candidate Lalrinfeli, supported by the MNF and the Congress, by a margin of 81 votes as the latter secured 2,273 votes in a triangular contest. The BJP nominee Chawnghmingthanga received 33 votes while 31 voters went for NOTA.

The civic by-poll was necessitated by the death of MNF member John Zosangliana Ralte of the MNF who was elected in 2020 polls. Independentand common candidate of MNF and Congress Lalrinfeli is the widow of Ralte. Even as the ZPM wins the by-election, MNF still has 10 counsellors in the 19-member AMC and there is no likely change in the Aizawl urban local body before elections to the 19 members are held next year.

Aizawl Municipal Councilcame into being under the Mizoram Municipalities Act, 2007 with the first elections to the 19 wards being held in 2010 and was elevated to Aizawl Municipal Corporation in 2015. In the last election held in 2021, MNF scored 11 wards, ZPM bagged 6 wards and the Congress 2 (one general seat and one seat reserved for women). Six wards out of 19 are reserved for women in the Aizawl urban civic body.