Aizawl: Two BJP MLAs and the lone Congress legislator in the state will abstain from voting in the Mizoram Rajya Sabha election on Thursday.The main opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) appealed to both the parties to support its candidate.Mizoram has only one Rajya Sabha seat. The state assembly has 40 members.A state BJP leader said the two party legislators — Dr K Beichhua (state president) and K Hrahmo — will follow instructions from the national leadership and will abstain from voting, despite MNF being part of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre and the North East Democratic Alliance.The Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) on Wednesday also decided that its lone MLA, C Ngunlianchunga, will abstain from voting and will not support either Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM)’s candidate or MNF’s candidate.A press statement issued by MPCC said the party has received an appeal from MNF to support its party candidate, Zothansangi Hmar. However, the Political Affairs Committee of MPCC decided that as MNF and ZPM are having links with NDA, supporting the candidates would be equivalent to supporting BJP. So, it was decided that the lone MPCC MLA should abstain in the elections.Meanwhile, social media was abuzz with a statement of ZPM candidate K Laltluangkima who reportedly stated in a local TV interview that if any party legislators are indulging in cross-voting, their votes would be regarded as invalid. Reacting to this, Eva Tochhawng, election agent of MNF for the Rajya Sabha polls, on Wednesday said the narratives of ZPM candidate are false, baseless and regrettable.ZPM has 27 legislators and MNF has 10.
