Lalduhoma

Lalduhoma (alternatively spelled Lalduhawma; born 22 February 1949) is an Indian politician who serves as the Chief Minister of Mizoram. Formerly an Indian Police Service officer, he resigned from the security service to the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and was elected as Member of Parliament to the Lok Sabha from Mizoram and President of the Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee (a branch of the Indian National Congress) in 1984. He however left the party from which he was elected two years later, for which he was disqualified from the Parliament. He became the first MP in India to be discharged based upon its anti-defection law.

Lalduhoma is the founder and president of Zoram Nationalist Party, a regional political party in Mizoram. His party joined the coalition party Zoram People's Movement, and he was chosen as its first Chief Ministerial candidate in the 2018 Mizoram Legislative Assembly election. He was elected from Aizawl West I and Serchhip constituencies, and chose to represent Serchhip since 2018.

While serving as leader of the legislature's opposition, he was disqualified as a Member of the Legislative Assembly on a charge of breaching the anti-defection law in 2020, becoming the first such case in India's state legislatures. He was re-elected via the same Serchhip constituency in a by-election in 2021. In the 2023 Mizoram Legislative Assembly election, the ZPM was elected in a landslide, defeating the ruling MNF.

Early life Lalduhoma is the son of a farmer, Vaisanga (L) and his wife Kaichhingi at Tualpui village. He is the youngest of four siblings. He studied at Khawzawl elementary and middle schools, and completed matriculation from G.M. High School at Champhai. He was appointed in 1972 as Personal Assistant at the Chief Minister's Office by Ch. Chhunga, the first Chief Minister of Mizoram. While working, he enrolled for an evening course of bachelor's degree and graduated with distinction from Gauhati University.

Career

Government services From 1972 to 1977 Lalduhoma worked as Personal Assistant to the Chief Minister of Mizoram. Following his graduation, he appeared for Indian civil services examinations at Shillong. He soon made a reputation in his skill and gallantry in tracking and fighting against drug pedlars. His senior officer had warned him that it was impossible to crush any gang in Goa. Lalduhoma took up the challenged and went undercover, joined one of the largest gangs and becoming a trusted member. After a few month, he became the top boss (Deputy Leader as he was designated), the position of which he used to dismantle the entire organisation. He was promoted to Deputy Commissioner of Police ahead of seven of his senior officers. He remained close the Gandhi family. He was secretary of the organising committee of the 1982 Asian Games, chaired by Rajiv Gandhi. Lalduhoma contested this result from the Lunglei constituency,

Lalduhoma was elected on 31 May 1984 as President of Mizoram INC. In the 1984 Lok Sabha election in December, Laduhoma was elected as an INC candidate from the Mizoram constituency. He was compelled to abdicate as President of INC the same year. The Lok Sabha Speaker disqualified him on 24 November 1988, and he became the first MP to be disqualified under the anti-defection law in India for giving up membership of the party which he represented. He later commented, saying, "I am proud of my first defection, of that decision... [because it was] for the cause of peace in my state, because the peace process was getting delayed." He formed Mizo National Union (MNU) (which later merged with Mizoram People's Conference) in 1986 and was made working President. While visiting New Delhi, Lalduhoma was informed that the state government had delayed the peace talk. The committee demanded that the state ministry resign from the legislature, organising public protests in early June followed by a mass hunger strike on 23 June. The protests prompted a peace talk that culminated in the signing of the Mizoram Peace Accord on 30 June.

Zoram People's Movement In the 2018 election, he and his party joined a coalition party, the Zoram People's Movement (ZPM). The party officially declared him the Chief Ministerial candidate. This coalition party could not obtain recognition from the Election Commission of India as an official party at the time, so he contested as an independent candidate. He was elected in two constituencies, Aizawl West I and Serchhip, and chose to represent Serchhip, where he defeated the incumbent Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla by 410 votes.

He was elected as the leader of the opposition bench of the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the Mizoram Legislative Assembly. He continued to serve as leader of ZPM, which became a registered political party in 2019. In September 2020, 12 MLAs from the ruling party, Mizo National Front, submitted a representation to the Mizoram Legislative Assembly Speaker Lalrinliana Sailo that Lalduhoma had violated the anti-defection law, because he had served as the leader of ZPM party while being elected as an independent candidate. According to the Anti-Defection Law (paragraph 2 clause 2), an independently elected member can be disqualified if he/she joins any party after election.

Personal life Lalduhoma is married to Liansailovi.