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Flashback January 1994

Mizoram poll results: Not satisfactory for the Congress (I)

In the final analysis, it was only the Congress (I)’s electoral alliance with the Mizoram Janata Dal (MJD) that enabled Mr. Lal Thanhawla to be sworn in on December 8 for his third term as Chief minister, but this time as the head of a 15 – member, two – tier coalition government.

But the poll results may not augur well for the coalition government, according to political observers. Mr. Lal Thanhawla says, “I am not satisfied with the result.” And well he might for his party won only 16 seats out of the 28it had contested in the third Mizoram State General Elections to the 40 member assembly on November 30. This represents a considerable fall from the 23 seats it had won in the last assembly elections held in January 1989.

The MJD, on the other hand, did much better than expected, winning eight out of the 23 seats it had contested. The party did not contest 28 seats as earlier reported.

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Flashback December 1993

Will Present Poll Alter Mizoram’s Electoral History?

Polarisation of political forces for the first time marks the one – day poll to the 40 member Assembly in Mizoram scheduled on November 30. Polarisation began last year in September when the two main opposition parties, the Mizo National Front (MNF) and the People’s Conference (PC), the earlier incarnation of the Mizoram Janata Dal, entered into a Cooperation Pact posing a serious threat to the ruling Congress (I). 

Moreover, the uncanny tendency of history to repeat itself haunted like a voodoo curse the Congress I in Mizoram where the electorate has never given a second successive term in office. The MNF – MJD pact, fortunately for the Congress I, floundered reportedly on the question of leadership of the government if the combine came to power after the polls. A new political alignment emerged between the MJD and the Congress I with limited electoral seat adjustment with the hope of piping the MNF and forming a coalition after the polls.

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Tripura: Return of the Red Star

What was foreseen as a close contest turned into a one-sided show. When the first couple of seats in Tripura Assembly polls went in the CPI (M)’s favour, even the most optimistic of Marxists could not anticipate the shape of things to come.
Veteran tribal leader Dasarath Deb opened the account for the Marxists with a resounding 12,000 vote-margin victory at Ramchandraghat in the heart of Tripura’s ‘red fort’, where hillmen have called him “Mukuthin Raja” (uncrowned king) since the days of the shortlived communist uprising (1948-51) in the state’s eastern mountains.
But the first strike was the beginning of a clean sweep, as the CPI (M) led Left and Democratic Front went on to bag 49 of the 60 seats, leaving the ruling Congress (I) with ten and its ally TUJS with just one.

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PROPHETIC PREDICTIONS ON THE POLL

The snap opinion poll conducted by Eastern Panorama, published under the heading “Opinion Poll Predicts Majority for Cong – I”, Eastern Panorama,  November , 1992, predicted the emergence of Congress (I) as the single largest party, conceding second place to the Meghalaya Federation of Regional Parties.
On the number of seats, the opinion poll predicted around 25 seats for the Congress (I) and around 20 seats for the Federation. The predictions were almost prophetic as the final results of the recent polls have given 24 seats to the Congress (I) and 21 seats to the Federation.
While a preview under the heading “ Poll Prospects In the North East” correctly assessed a Hung Assembly in the February, 1993 issue of Eastern panorama, the same issue also carried an article “Swiss Prescription for Meghalaya” specifying one of the remedies for such a situation for the sake of political stability, an essential prerequisite for development and progress in Meghalaya.