Mizo National Front (MNF) supremo Zoramthanga is all set to be the next chief minister as MNF makes a clean sweep in Mizoram. It has been a long wait for the 74-year-old veteran, being in opposition against Congress's Lal Thanhawla, 76, who has been the CM for the last 10 consecutive years.

With 26 seats in its kitty, the party has got a clear majority in the 40-seat state assembly. A constituent of the Northeast Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the subsidiary of the NDA in the North East, the MNF went alone in Mizoram, distancing itself from the saffron party in a Christian-majority state.

The BJP, which had drawn a nil in the 2013 assembly election, makes a debut in the Mizoram assembly winning from Tuichawng.

Facing a total routing, the Congress has been reduced to 5 from 34 seats in last election. While Zoramthanga won comfortably from Aizawl East (I) seat with a margin of 2504 votes his archrival Lal Thanhawla lost in both Champhai South and Serchhip constituencies.

Read | MNF wrests power in Mizoram as Congress’s last Northeast bastion falls

"We will win anything above 25 and it may go upto 30. Congress will be totally wiped out of north east," MNF chief Zoramthanga had said while reacting to the India Today-My Axis exit poll projections on December 7.

A former rebel leader who took part in the violent secessionist movement of the 1980s, Zoramthanga was confident of riding high on a strong anti-incumbency wave and the effect of Congress government's unpopular decision to lift liquor ban in the state.

"People here desperately need change; development has stood still in Mizoram for a decade under the Congress rule. Instead, they are selling liquor! Thousands have died due to it it is like a plague, a king-size headache for parents," he had told India Today before the election.

With 87 per cent Christian population in Mizoram, the Presbyterian Church holds quite a sway over the electorate. There has been a long standing demand for banning the sale of liquor in the state considering health and moral implications.

The Congress government had imposed a total prohibition on sale and consumption of alcohol in 1997 after enacting the Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act. After 17 years, Congress Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla decided to partially repeal the prohibition through the new Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition and Control) Bill 2014 (or MLPC) replacing the old MLTP Act. Notwithstanding opposition from the church, the government maintained that liquor ban had resulted in increased sale of spurious liquor.

The results prove that relaxing the liquor ban has cost the Congress dearly. Making it a key poll plank, MNF has promised to reimpose the ban once back in power.

With independent candidates bagging 8 seats, the Congress's hope that it will split the opposition vote seems to have been proven wrong. Rather, in a close three-way contest, independent candidates have eaten into the Congress vote share giving the MNF an edge.

With Mizoram, the BJP has succeeded in achieving its ambition of making India's Northeast Congress free. After Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim and now Mizoram - all eight Northeastern states now have either a BJP or an NDA government in power.



"With Mizoram, constituents of #NEDA will head Govt in entire North East. We worked towards it tirelessly for last 3 yrs under leadership of @narendramodi. Congratulations to Pu Zoramthanga for historic win of #MNF in #Mizoram. Meanwhile @BJP4India also opens its account in Mizoram," tweeted BJP's Himanta Biswa Sarma, the convener of NEDA.

Also read | Northeast Congress-mukt after party loses Mizoram assembly election

Also watch | Mizoram exit poll: Congress likely to lose last Northeast bastion