Mizoram's assembly changed hands again, with a new party taking charge of the state government.

The Mizo National Front won 21 seats in the 40-member house.

That was exactly the number needed for a majority — 21 seats — with nothing to spare.

Its closest rival, the Mizoram People's Conference, won 12.

The government changed hands, and one clear pattern stood out among the seats that flipped.

7 constituencies that had backed the Indian National Congress last time went to the MZPC instead.

Separately, the MNF's own seat count rose from 14 to 21, enough to govern on its own.

A few numbers from that election stand out.

Even as it took power, the MNF's vote share — the slice of all ballots cast that went to one party or candidate — shifted by -15.4 pp from the previous election, to just 25.0%.

The tightest finish: Saitual, Mizoram was decided by just 6 votes — the narrowest margin, how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second, anywhere in the state that year.

At the other extreme, Aizawl East-I, Mizoram was won by a margin of 28.4% of the vote.

Lungpho, Mizoram drew the most crowded ballot in the state, with 9 candidates standing.

The party now leading the government had spent years as an armed movement before entering mainstream politics under a peace agreement that also created the state.