New Delhi: With the Election Commission of India (ECI) deferring the date for the counting of votes polled in the November 7 assembly elections in Mizoram by a day, the process is unrolling at 8 am today. The unprecedented step to revise the counting date was taken by the ECI in response to a massive uproar in the northeastern state, since the previous date of December 3 fell on a Sunday, an auspicious day for the people of Christian-majority Mizoram.According to the state election commission, 4,000 officials would be involved in the counting exercise for the 40 assembly constituencies. State chief electoral officer Madhup Vyas had told reporters that a full dress rehearsal for counting was held though the ENCORE portal on November 30. Illustration: Pariplab ChakrabortyIn all, 13 counting centres across the state have been readied. As many as 40 counting halls in the centres would count the votes.The commission said the officials would work on 399 electronic voting machine (EVM) tables and 56 postal ballot tables to complete the exercise.The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) is seeking a second consecutive term in these elections while facing unprecented anti-incumbency mounted by another regional entity, the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM).In the last assembly polls, the ZPM contested for the first time and pocketed eight of the 25 seats it had contested, while the MNF wrested power from the Congress with wins in 26 seats. The MNF could restrict the Congress in five seats after two terms in power. The BJP pocketed only one seat in the Chakma belt and failed to convince the MNF, its NDA ally, to accommodate party’s sole MLA within its government. Mizoram has, therefore, remained the only state in the northeast where the BJP is not in the government.This time around, though, the ZPM has emerged as an alternative to the MNF. Several exit polls have predicted a clean sweep for the ZPM, placing the Congress and the BJP in third and fourth positions respectively.Since the buzz in the state is that the ZPM is close to the BJP, it is to be seen after today if the national party could enter the next Mizoram government. The election results will also show if the BJP could have an MLA from the majority Mizo community.The Mizos were upset with the ruling party for the sufferings of the Kukis of Manipur – with whom they share fraternal relations – during the recent ethnic violence in that state. Mizoram chief minister and MNF supremo Zoramthanga not only became a voice of the Kuki-Mizo communities with New Delhi during the violence, but also raised it as an election issue during his campaign.Zoramthanga at a solidarity march for the Kuki-Zo people in Aizawl on July 26. Photo: X/@ITFLMedia_Cell.He publicly said he would not share a platform with Prime Minister Narendra Modi if the latter campaigned in the state for the BJP, as Modi did not visit the Kuki community in Manipur during the violence. Ultimately, Modi cancelled his campaigning trip to Mizoram, making it the only poll-bound state that he skipped.During their respective campaigns, the ZPM and the Congress, however, played down the Manipur ethnic violence and instead accused the MNF government of financial mismanagement.December 4 will decide whether Mizos regarded the ethnic violence in the neighbouring state as a poll issue. If the ZPM trips the MNF after the counting of the votes, it would be the second regional party to have grabbed power in Mizoram. The state would also break out of an over-three-decade-long cycle of the exchange of power between the MNF and the Congress.