Mizoram Elections: The Ten Commandments

It’s hard to find visible signs of an impending election in Mizoram. A rare poster pops up on a moss-covered cliff-face around a corner. A chair stands at the entrance of an empty campaign office, set amid cheek-by-jowl shops. At the headquarters of the Mizo National Front (MNF), a young party worker watches highlights of a Premier League football match on his smartphone. Mizoram will vote on November 28 to elect a new government, but its picture-postcard hilltop capital Aizawl seems disinterested in the democratic process. This is a laidback city basking under the mellow November sun, watching the world go by. In front of a big graffiti of the state election department urging people to vote, young men and women sit on a row of parked motorbikes and discuss football, cinema and everything else but elections.