Mizoram Assembly elections 2018 LIVE: As BJP, Congress and MNF battle for big wins, voting begins for all 40 seats

Update at 9:30 PM: 80% poll and sill counting: CEO Mizoram

Update at 5:30 PM: 75% voter turnout recorded till 5 PM

Update at 4:30 PM: 71% voter turnout recorded till 4.30 PM.

"Polling centers have been closed at 4 PM. Many people are in the queue. 71% polling has taken place so far," says CEO Mizoram Ashish Kundra.

Update at 3:25 PM: 58% voter turnout recorded till 3 PM.

Update at 1:15 PM: 49% voter turnout recorded till 1 PM.

Update at 12:30 PM: Lal Thanhawla, Mizoram CM has said that he is positive about getting majority votes: I'm confident that people have voted for development. The government at Center had been very kind to me. So there had been a lot of developmental activities. There is no need of any alliance. I'll get the majority votes. Bru and Chakmas are with me. Zoramthanga (Former Chief minister of Mizoram) is a good person.

Update at 11:50 AM: 29% voter turnout recorded till 11 AM.

Update at 8:25 AM: Visuals of polling in Mizoram by ANI 

Update at 8:00 AM: I request my sisters and brothers of Mizoram, particularly the dynamic youth of the state, to turnout in large numbers and vote: PM Modi

Update at 7:00 AM: Voting for all 40 constituencies begins in Mizoram.

Mizoram, the Christian majority State of the Northeast, is all set to elect its new government. With elections around the corner, the mood in Mizoram is now politically noisy. Though with 40 seats in the Assembly and only single seat in the Lok Sabha, Mizoram has always failed to grab national headlines in the previous elections, the scenario is bit different this time. 

Mizoram is the last Congress bastion in the Northeast. In all the other seven States, the BJP or its partners are running the government under the umbrella of Northeast Democratic Alliance (NEDA), an initiative of NDA, led by Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma. Dr. Sarma is credited of bringing the BJP to power in Assam, Arunachal, Manipur and Tripura directly and in Meghalaya and Nagaland through the NPP and NDPP respectively. Mizoram is now an unfinished agenda for the BJP as said by BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav. It is also the last hurdle for the BJP in making Northeast ‘Congress Mukt’. 

Mizoram is a Christian majority State and the saffron colour of the BJP is something that keeps people at a bay from it. The Mizo National Front, as well as the Zoram People's Movement both, happen to be constituents of the NEDA, but in Mizoram, they trying hard to disassociate themselves from the NEDA and more particularly BJP. As there is no pre-poll alliance between any political party, all are up against each other levelling allegation of having 'understanding’ with the BJP. 

The BJP, however, has a different narrative altogether. NEDA Convenor Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma has to say that the BJP is even open for an ‘alliance with the Congress’. According to Sarma, the Mizoram Congress is different from the Indian National Congress led by Rahul Gandhi. Sarma said, “We have worked with the Congress too in Mizoram, in the Chakma Autonomous District Council. We can have similar arrangements. For Mizoram Congress, the leader is Lal Thanhawla and not Rahul Gandhi.”

Given all these facts on the ground in Mizoram, the picture is quite clear that the post-poll scenario will be a hectic schedule in Aizawl. The BJPs poster boy of Northeast, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma will be the one to watch out for on and after December 11, the D-Day.

READ: The Battle Of Mizoram- Facts From Ground Zero

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