While the Congress has reason to smile in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, the northeast on Tuesday all but officially became 'Congress-mukt' under the watch of Rahul Gandhi.
The 10-year-old Congress government was on the way out in Mizoram with the Mizo National Front making a comeback, leading in 27 of the 40 seats at 11.30am, three-and-half hours after counting began. The Congress was ahead in eight seats.
The complete drubbing of the Congress surprised many even as Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla lost both of seats he contested—Champai South and Serchhip—against the MNF. Both constituencies had elected Lal Thanhawla previously.
The BJP is all set to open its account in Mizoram with B.D. Chakma, former Congress minister, who had joined BJP recently, leading by around 3,000 votes after six rounds of counting from Tuichwang, dominated by the non-Mizo Chakma community.
The success of the MNF largely follows the political trend in Mizoram, which has changed its government every 10 years. Despite this, Lal Thanhawla had hoped to break the 'jinx' with his pro-poor initiatives like the land use policy in which his government had given money to everyone to build houses. However, joblessness in Mizoram, despite high economic growth for a decade, cost Lal Thanhawla and the Congress dearly. Also there was the rise of the BJP, which took away many votes of the Congress and helped the MNF.
What has not changed, however, is a 76-year-old chief minister would be replaced by 84-year-old Zoramthanga, formerly two-time chief minister of Mizoram.
The wipe-out in Mizoram completes the Congress's marginalisation in the northeast by the BJP, which started with the ouster of the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh, followed by electoral losses in Manipur, Assam and Meghalaya since 2016. The MNF is a part of the BJP's North-east Democratic Alliance.
