Mizoram election result: After defeat in four states, Congress wins big

Aizawl: After being mauled in four states, the Congress has posted a massive in Mizoram. A little after 3 pm, the  ruling party had crossed the half-way mark, winning 21 and leading in another seven of the 40 assembly seats while its nearest rival, the Mizo National Front, had won only two.

The massive win has given veteran Congress leader and four-time chief minister Lal Thanhawla his second consecutive term. The 71-year-old Chief Minister was elected to the state assembly for a record ninth time. This year, he contested from two places in central Mizoram, Serchhip and Hrangturzo, and won both seats.

"I attribute this win to good governance and no corruption. We had flagship programmes for the weaker sections of the people....I am very happy with the win,." Mr Thanhawla told NDTV.

This is for the fifth time the Congress has come to power in the north-eastern state. In the outgoing assembly, the Congress had 32 seats.

Mizoram is the only state in India where women voters outnumber men by 9,806 in the electorate of 690,860.

Mr Thanhawla defeated his nearest MNF rival C. Lalramzauva, a lawyer and a three-term former legislator, in Serchhip by a margin of 734 votes while he retained the Hrangturzo seat beating MPC opponent Lalthansanga by 1,628 votes.

Unlike the last assembly polls in 2008, the Congress did well in both southern and northern Mizoram which shares borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh.