Mizoram Elections 2023: Speaker Lalrinliana Sailo resigns after ticket denial, set to join BJP

Following the refusal of a ticket by the governing Mizo National Front (MNF), assembly speaker Lalrinliana Sailo is set to join the saffron party, a BJP spokesperson said on Wednesday, adding another blow for the ruling party ahead of the Mizoram assembly elections on November 7.Sailo will be enrolled into the Mizoram BJP on Thursday, according to Mizoram BJP media convener Johny Lalthanpuia.

He stated that Sailo will run for the BJP in the forthcoming assembly elections, however, the party's high leadership has yet to decide which constituency he will represent.According to Assembly authorities, Sailo would quit as a legislator on Wednesday in order to run for the BJP in the next assembly elections.He would be the eighth Mizoram MP to quit ahead of the assembly elections.Sailo was elected to the Chalfilh assembly seat on the MNF ticket in 2018.The party is alleged to have refused him a ticket because of his comments on the MNF-NDA partnership.

The Election Commission of India on Monday announced the schedule for holding assembly polls in five poll-bound states - Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana. According to the EC, elections in the northeastern state of Mizoram will be held on November 7. Similarly, the polling in Chhattisgarh will take place on November 7 and November 17, Madhya Pradesh on November 17, Rajasthan on November 23 and Telangana on November 30.