Independent candidates led by Laldenga won power in Mizoram's first election as a full state.¹

They won 24 of the 40 seats on offer.

That left them 3 seats clear of the 21-seat majority mark.

They took 60.0% of the seats in a landslide, on 43.3% of the vote.

Their nearest rival, the Indian National Congress, won 13 seats on 33.0% of the vote.

The Mizo National Front launched an armed uprising for an independent Mizo state in 1966. The Indian Air Force struck Aizawl, and the party was banned in 1967. The insurgency lasted two decades.²

The Mizo National Front signed a peace accord with the government on 30 June 1986, ending the insurgency in exchange for full statehood; Mizoram became India's 23rd state on 20 February 1987. The accord's terms also handed the incoming government to the MNF, weakening former Chief Minister Thenphunga Sailo's People's Conference ahead of the vote.³⁴

Polling for the new state's 40 constituencies was held on 16 February 1987, the first assembly election since Mizoram's time as a union territory. Laldenga contested from Aizawl North-2, and MNF's candidates — including Laldenga himself — stood as Independents on the ballot rather than under the party's own symbol, though it functioned as the organised force behind them.⁵¹

The Indian National Congress campaigned under Lal Thanhawla, president of its Mizoram unit since 1973, who contested from Serchhip.⁶

This was Mizoram's first election as a full state, held soon after full statehood was granted, and its assembly grew larger to match.⁷

The house grew from 30 seats to 40.

INC lost the government it had held, and Laldenga's independents became the largest bloc in the new house.¹

Turnout, the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot, fell -0.8 pp from the previous election.

The tightest race was in Suangpuilawn, Mizoram, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of 20 votes.

Khawzawl, Mizoram saw the widest margin of the night, with the winner ahead by 33.2% of the vote.

Saitual, Mizoram recorded the highest turnout of any seat, at 85.2%.

Lawngtlai, Mizoram was both the largest constituency by registered voters, with 12,337 on its rolls, and the most crowded ballot, with 5 candidates standing.

1 seat went to an unopposed return, where only one candidate stood, so no vote was needed to decide it.

An armed uprising for an independent Mizo state began in 1966, and the movement behind it was outlawed in 1967 after the Indian Air Force struck Aizawl.²

The insurgency ended with the Mizoram Peace Accord on 30 June 1986, under which its leaders accepted full statehood and constitutional protections for Mizo customs in place of independence, and Laldenga became the state's first Chief Minister.³