Aizawl: Over seven lakh voters were eligible to exercise their franchise for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram which will go to hustings on April nine with three contestants from Congress, AAP and UDF in the fray.
Polling would be held in 1,126 polling stations, of which 40, most in border areas, are identified as sensitive polling stations.
Though three candidates are in the fray, political observers feel that the main contest would be between the ruling Congress nominee C.L. Ruala and the United Democratic Front (UDF) opposition eight-party alliance contender Robert Romawia Royte.
Another contestant is Michael Lalmanzuala of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), who may cast some spell among non-partisan votes especially the youth.
The Congress candidate and sitting Lok Sabha member, C.L.Ruala, 79, is a former minister and veteran congress leader who was elected to the lone Mizoram Lok Sabha seat in 2009.
He had been the minister for four times and had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls on Congress ticket in 1977 and lost to R. Rothuama of the People`s Conference (PC) by a margin of 16,008 votes.
Royte is pitted as an Independent and being backed by the opposition Mizo National Front (MNF), Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), the Mizoram People`s Conference (MPC), the Maraland Democratic Front (MDF), the Hmar People`s Convention (HPC), the Paite Tribe Council (PTC), the BJP and the NCP, which formed an alliance under the umbrella of the UDF.
He was an academician working as teacher and also in the state School Education department and the `Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)` before resigning from government service in 2010 and now heads a consultancy firm - the North East Consultancy Service (NECS).
The opposition combine candidate Royte is banking on the predictions in national media that the NDA would usurp power at the Centre.
The UDF announced that, Royte, if elected, would join the coalition in Parliament and would be in a better position than a Congress MP to work for the development of Mizoram.
The opposition parties also expressed the hope that if the NDA comes to power in Delhi, their independent candidate would be inducted as union minister.
