As declared by the Election Commission of India, the votes for the 26- Serchhip (ST) Assembly Constituency Bye Election were counted today from 8:00 AM till 3:00pm in the afternoon. Pu Lalduhawma, the candidate of the regional party Zoram People's Movement, won the election, bagging a total of 8,269 votes. The Returning Officer Kumar Abhishek IAS who is also the District Election Officer handed the certificate to Lalduhawma after the declaration of the results. The closest candidate in terms of total vote casted is the ruling party MNF candidate, Vanlalzawma with 5319.
Looking at last year's event, the bye -election result proves to be a significant achievement for Lalduhawma and ZPM party. In November 2020, Lalduhawma was forced to step down from his position as the Member of the state's Legislative Assembly after he was accused of violating the Anti-Defection Law by 12 MLA from the MNF party.
Hence, the win in this Bye-Election can be seen as a huge come back for the 'newly' elected MLA.
The votes were counted by 10 Micro-observers, 8 Counting Supervisors, 10 Counting Assistants and Supporting staff under the supervision of the Returning Officer and Asst. Returning Officer. Votes from the 29 polling stations were counted in 5 rounds. Along with the votes from these polling stations, votes from the Postal Ballot were counted under the supervision of the Returning Officer.
16,367 votes were casted in the polling stations and 188 through Postal Ballot, with the total coming to 16,595 votes.
The votes were counted under careful security measures with strict restrictions against public gatherings of any sort. A well-equipped Bye Election Media Centre was set up for swift relay of updates and news to the public.
