Guwahati: With poll and security personnel leaving for their respective polling stations early on Monday, everything is set for voting to all the 40 assembly seats in Mizoram on Tuesday.

The state has a total of 857,063 voters (413,062 male, 439,026 female and 4975 service voters). There are a total of 1276 polling stations and 174 candidates in the fray.

“Around 6000 poll personnel, 3000 policemen of state police plus 50 companies of CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) will be on duty. A total of 1276 EVMs and VVPATs (Voter verifiable paper audit trail) plus 20% reserve will be on standby,” Madhup Vyas, chief electoral officer, Mizoram, said.

Around 10,000 voters have already voted before the scheduled date. They include persons who are over 80 years of age or persons with disabilities and service voters or poll personnel who have cast postal ballots.

Mizoram usually witnesses high voter turnouts and peaceful voting; in 2018, the voting percentage of 81.31 % slightly higher than 80.82% recorded five years ago.

The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) and the Congress have dominated politics in Mizoram, the smallest of the five states going to the polls as part of the last major electoral exercise ahead of the 2024 national elections.

Also Read: Mizoram polls: How Congress, BJP are positioned amid fight between MNF, ZPM

A keen contest between two regional parties, the ruling Mizo National Front and opposition Zoram Peoples Movement, is expected with the two national parties Congress and BJP.

In 2018, the MNF returned to power in Mizoram after 10 years, defeating the Congress in its last bastion in the northeast. The MNF bagged 26 of the 40 seats and secured a majority on its own with a 37.70% vote share. The Congress, which was in power since 2008, came third with just five seats and 30% of the votes.

In 2008, Congress defeated MNF, which was in power since 1998, by winning 32 seats. Five years later, Congress won 34 seats while MNF managed to bag just five.

Zoram Peoples Movement (ZPM), which was formed a year earlier after the merger of seven parties, replaced the Congress as the second biggest party with eight seats in 2018. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to win just one seat in the Christian-majority state. The ZPM secured around 23% of the votes and the BJP eight per cent in 2018.

MNF, a constituent of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), contested the polls on its own. While MNF, Congress and ZPM are contesting all the 40 seats, BJP has put up candidates in 23.