Mizoram: 76 candidates file nominations for Chakma council polls

76 candidates have registered candidature for the 2019 Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC) elections in Mizoram.

The election for the 20-member district council will be held on May 9, and the ballots will be counted on May 11. 

According to R Vanrengpuia, Deputy Secretary of the Mizoram State Election Commission, the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) and the opposition BJP have each filed 20 candidates. 

According to him, Congress has submitted 22 candidates, two of whom are replacements, while the Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) has awarded tickets to 13 nominees. According to him, one independent candidate has also filed for the council elections. 

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Vanrengpuia stated that Congress filing two alternative candidates is a standard process and was done to fill the hole if certain nominees fail to pass the examination. If all of the nominations from Congress pass muster, the two substitute nominees will be removed from the list, he added. 

On Tuesday, the nomination papers will be reviewed. Ten of the 20 MNF nominees are incumbents, while ZPM has five incumbents and Congress has one. The BJP has also run an incumbent and a former minister. The deadline for withdrawing candidatures is April 27. 

A total of 35,885 voters, including 17,677 women, are eligible to vote in the polls where EVMs will be utilised. 

The CADC was established in 1972 under the sixth schedule of the Constitution for the benefit of the Chakma tribal people of Mizoram. The council has 24 constituencies, four of which are nominated. 

The most recent council elections, held in April 2018, produced a hung house, with the MNF emerging as the single-largest party, obtaining eight seats, while the Congress won six and the BJP won five. Later, the Congress's score grew to seven after it won a constituency that was later reversed during the elections. 

Due to political instability, the council was placed under total MNF control before the governor's authority was enforced in the council area in December last year. The council is not subject to anti-defection legislation.