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NEW DELHI: Mizoram’s ruling Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) on Thursday created history by securing its first-ever representation in the Rajya Sabha. Senior leader K Laltluangkima won the election to the state’s lone Upper House seat.Laltluangkima polled 26 votes in the 40-member assembly, defeating opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) candidate Zothansangi Hmar, who secured all 10 votes cast by her party’s legislators, news agency PTI reported.Three MLAs, BJP legislators K Beichhua and K Hrahmo, and Congress MLA C Ngunlianchunga, abstained from voting, while ZPM legislator W Chhuanawma could not cast his vote due to health reasons.The ZPM, which came to power in the 2023 assembly elections, currently has 27 MLAs in the House. The MNF has 10 members, while the BJP and Congress have two and one legislators, respectively.The victory marks a major milestone for the ZPM, founded in 2017, as Laltluangkima becomes the party’s first Rajya Sabha MP. He is also the eighth person from Mizoram to be elected to the Upper House since 1972, when the state was a Union Territory.The outgoing Rajya Sabha member is the MNF’s K Vanlalvena.Born in October 1963, Laltluangkima holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from St Anthony’s College and later studied Christian Communication in England. He also earned a Master’s degree in Plumbing from an institution in Maryland, US.Laltluangkima entered politics in 1997 through the MNF (Nationalist), which later became the Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) under Lalduhoma. He is currently the member secretary of the ZPM’s political affairs committee and the party’s official spokesperson.
