Mizoram polls: Cong to review poor electoral performance

The Congress, which suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Mizo National Front (MNF) in Mizoram, will review its performance in the just-concluded assembly polls at a meeting on January 18, a party leader said Thursday.

All party candidates will be asked to attend the brainstorming session that will deliberate on the reasons for the debacle of the Congress in the election to the 40-member House, Mizoram Congress spokesperson Lallianchhunga told PTI.

In the assembly election results declared Tuesday, the Congress managed to bag only five seats compared to the 34 it had won in the 2013 assembly polls.

It came a poor third behind the MNF, which won 26 seats and the Zoram People's Movement (ZPM), which won eight seats and is a new entrant in the state poll scenario.

Liberal liquor policy, advent of the ZPM and anti-incumbency factor were believed to be reasons due to which the Congress government in the Christian-majority Mizoram, the party's last bastion in the northeastern region, fell.

Chief minister-designate Zoramthanga of the MNF Wednesday said the people might have rejected the Lal Thanhawla regime for its liberal policy towards liquor as against the expressed will of the churches.

He has already announced that his government would impose total prohibition.

Outgoing chief minister Thanhawla said his party's electoral setback might be due to the opening of liquor shops in the state in 2015, after a spell of prohibition for 20 years.

Though he stopped short of accusing the churches of campaigning against his government and the Congress, Thanhawla said, "Campaigning from the pulpit should be prohibited."