In Mizoram’s capital Aizawl, thousands gathered in protest last month to question the eligibility of a Congress candidate from the Lunglei South constituency in Lunglei district.
While Meriam Hrangchal was eligible for candidature under Indian law, she had, in the eyes of a section of the voters, lost her tribal status by marrying a Gorkha man. She was unfit to contest in a constituency reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, declared the Mizo Zirlai Pawl – an influential student outfit that had called the protest and had issued a similar diktat last year asking parties to not field such candidates in Mizoram.
