10,585 votes cast through home voting and postal ballots in Mizoram: Govt

Altogether 10,585 senior citizens, people with disabilities (PwDs) and government officials exercised their franchise for the November 7 Mizoram polls through home voting and postal ballots till Saturday, an official said.

While 2,059 senior citizens (80 years and above) and PwDs exercised their franchise through home voting, 8,526 government officials, including security and polling personnel, voted through postal ballots, additional chief electoral officer H Lianzela said on Sunday.

Of the 11 districts, Aizawl topped the list in home and postal voting with 2,534 people exercising their franchise, followed by Lawngtlai (1,614) and Lunglei (1,582), he said.

Lianzela said out of Mizoram's 1,276 voting centres, 149 are remote polling stations. "Officials who will be deployed in such polling stations started leaving for their destinations on Sunday," he said, adding that the election campaign came to an end at 4pm.

More than 8.57 lakh electorates, including 4,39,026 women, will decide the fate of 174 candidates in the polls, the official said.

The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), main opposition party Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) and Congress have fielded candidates for all the 40 seats.

BJP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have fielded 23 and 4 candidates, respectively, in addition to 27 independents already in the fray.