BJP names Vanlalhmuaka candidate for Mizoram's lone Lok Sabha seat

Aizawl: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday nominated its Mizoram unit president Vanlalhmuaka as the party candidate for elections to the lone Lok Sabha seat in the northeastern state slated for April 19.

Mizoram has only one Lok Sabha seat, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribe and the incumbent Lok Sabha member C. Lalrosanga of Mizo National Front (MNF) has opted not to contest this time. 

The BJP on Sunday released the fifth list of its candidates for 17 states for the upcoming parliamentary polls and named Vanlalhmuaka for Mizoram's Lok Sabha seat.

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Vanlalhmuaka,63, made his formal entry into politics when he joined the BJP in 2014.

Before this, he contested the Mizoram assembly polls in 2008 from Serlui constituency as an independent and lost to Congress nominee K. Lalrinthanga.

He became the general secretary of the Mizoram BJP unit from 2016 till his election as the party president in January 2020.

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Apart from the 2008 assembly polls, Vanlalhmuaka had unsuccessfully contested the state assembly polls on the BJP tickets in 2018 and 2023.

Over 8.6 lakh electorates, including 4.41 lakh female voters, will exercise their franchise in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Mizoram. 

The upcoming elections to the lone Lok Sabha seat in the northeastern state will witness a multi-cornered contest. 

However, political analysts believed that it would be mainly a triangular contest among the ruling Zoram People's Movement (ZPM), the main opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) and Congress.

The ZPM has fielded an entrepreneur Richard Vanlalhmangaiha, 46, who is a newbie in politics, while the MNF named sitting Mizoram's lone Rajya Sabha member K. Vanlalvena,54 as its candidate for the Lok Sabha seat.

Congress has nominated retired Mizoram Police Service (MPS) officer and former state home secretary Lalbiakzama (64) and People's Conference (PC) fielded well-known Mizo singer and lyricist Rita Malsawmi (48).

Former Congress worker Lalhriatrenga Chhangte, who lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, will also contest the upcoming polls as an independent.