Sinlung /
21 November 2013

In Mizoram, A Party That Hunted 40 Candidates Settles for 1

By Adam Halliday

Aizawl, Nov 21 : There is a new party in Mizoram politics — in a manner of speaking. The Jai Maha Bharath Party (National Level), a party headquartered in New Delhi's Connaught Place, has set out to contest the assembly elections. It started off scouting for candidates for the 40 seats, and has finally found one.

It began with an advertisement in the front page of a local daily, Vanglaini, asking anyone interested to contest in its name. Using a clay pot as its election symbol and declaring it intends to field candidates in all 40 seats, the party's advertisement ironically appeared the same day Vanglaini carried on its front page a report about how all the state's major parties had released their list of candidates. The advertisment, in fact, appeared right next to the report.

Anantha Vishwadava, also known as Prabhu, the founder national president, is somewhat disappointed. Camping in Aizawl where he was looking for candidates, he admitted that he was not satisfied with most of the 40-odd applicants who had approached him over the previous few days. This was last week, when the party was yet to find a candidate it was willing to field.

"We have a policy that we will fund any of our candidates' campaigns through advertisements in the newspapers and on TV once they file nominations," Prabhu said. "But here everyone who has applied first want the money in hand."

The one candidate the party eventually accepted is F Remkhuma, who will contest from Hrangturzo, one of the two seats the chief minister is contesting. Last week, he spoke along with other candidates at a function organised by the Mizo People's Forum. He said his party is against corruption, promised to use his funds wisely if he wins, and wound up his speech using two of the 15 minutes allotted to him.

Party chief Prabhu describes the JMBP: "Our party wants to make India great, and we are totally secular." He says they have faced elections in several states already, in Bihar in 2010, then in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and fielded candidates in New Delhi's municipal elections. He says the party will also contest in all northeastern states as and when elections take place.

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