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Mizoram gave Cong a reason to smile in 2013

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Press Trust of India Aizawl
Congress' landslide victory in the Mizoram Assembly polls was a saving grace for the party which suffered a rout in other states.

Led by Lal Thanhawla, Congress bagged 34 seats in the polls while the three-party opposition alliance - Mizoram Democratic Alliance (MDA) -- managed to win only six seats in the polls to the 40-member state assembly.

Lal Thanhawla became the chief minister for the fifth term and for the second consecutive time.

The Election Commission had to reschedule the dates for polling and counting of votes in the state after objections by churches, NGOs and political parties as these clashed with church events.
 

2013 saw 17 people getting killed by a massive landslide that was caused by collapse of a government office building which swept away 11 private buildings in the northern part of Aizawl city.

The year was marred by a series of abductions allegedly by insurgents holed up in neighbouring Bangladesh.

Seizure of huge cache of sophisticated arms also dominated 2013 as the state police and Assam Rifles in a joint operation found 33 arms during the first part of March in a farm house near the lone Lengpui Airport, about 40 km west of here.

Police said the arms were smuggled from Myanmar across the 404-km-long porous international border with Mizoram and meant for the Parbotia Chatagram Jana Sangata Samity (PCJSS) faction of the Shanti Bahini insurgents based in Bangladesh.

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First Published: Dec 31 2013 | 10:00 AM IST

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