MNF chief Zoramthanga stakes claim to form government in Mizoram (Lead)

Aizawl : After handing down a humiliating defeat to the ruling Congress, MNF supremo Zoramthanga met Governor Kummanam Rajasekhar on Tuesday evening and staked claim to form the government in Mizoram, after a decade.

"MNF President Zoramthanga met Governor Kummanam Rajasekhar this evening (Tuesday) and staked claim to form government in Mizoram," a Raj Bhavan official said.

He said that the time and date of the swearing-in ceremony of the new Council of Ministers headed by Zoramthanga would be decided soon in consultation with all stakeholders.

Earlier, a statement of the Mizo National Front (MNF) said that Zoramthanga has been unanimously elected leader of the MNF Legislature Party.

A former Chief Minister, Zoramthanga, 74, was elected for a fifth term from Aizawl East-I seat, defeating Independent candidate K. Sapdanga by a margin of 2,504 votes.

The MNF, which got only five seats in the 2013 Assembly polls, secured 26 seats this time, while the ruling Congress won only five seats.