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Seats by party
INC: 23 seats (57.5%)MNF: 14 seats (35.0%)IND: 2 seats (5.0%)PPC: 1 seats (2.5%)21 for a majority4021 TO GOVERN
  • INC2357.5%
  • MNF1435.0%
  • IND25.0%
  • PPC12.5%
The story

Congress returns to power

What happened

Power in the state changed hands again, this time returning to the party that had governed before statehood.

The Indian National Congress won 23 of the 40 seats on offer, a landslide by any measure.

That left it 2 seats clear of the 21-seat majority mark.

Its nearest rival, the Mizo National Front, won 14 seats.

What changed

The independent wave that had dominated the previous election collapsed almost as quickly as it had arrived.

A movement that had only ever run candidates as independents until then, MNF, contested this election under its own name for the first time.

13 seats swung from the Independent to the MNF alone.

Notable numbers

A few numbers from that election stand out.

The tightest race was in Lunglei South, Mizoram, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of just 15 votes.

At the other end, Chawngte, Mizoram saw the widest margin of the night, with the winner ahead by 42.2% of the vote.

About 80.5% of registered voters turned out to cast a ballot across the state, the highest turnout Mizoram had recorded up to that point.

The most crowded ballot was in Tlabung, Mizoram, where 6 candidates stood.

The backdrop

This vote came in the years just after peace and full statehood reshaped the state's politics.

Historical context
Mizo Accord and Mizoram Statehood

The Mizo National Front signed the Mizoram Peace Accord with the Government of India on 30 June 1986, ending the insurgency in exchange for full statehood and constitutional protections for Mizo customs. Mizoram became India's 23rd state, with a 40-member Legislative Assembly, on 20 February 1987; Laldenga became the state's first Chief Minister.

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