Baryl Vanneihsangi, a radio DJ with a sizable Instagram following, has become Mizoram’s youngest MLA after winning the last state election.
The 32-year-old Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) candidate won the Aizawl South-III constituency by 1,414 votes.
The incumbent Mizo National Front (MNF) was decimated in the election by the ZPM, Mizoram’s newest party, which won 27 of 40 seats.
Baryl Vanneihsangi, one of three women elected to the Mizoram legislature, has over 252k Instagram followers.
Soon after the Mizoram results, the former TV host emphasized gender equality and encouraged women to pursue their dreams.
“I just want to tell all the women out there that our gender doesn’t stop us from doing anything that we like and wish to pursue. It doesn’t prevent us from taking up something that we are passionate about. My message to them is that regardless of which community or social strata they belong to, if they want to take up something they should just go for it,” she told news agency ANI.
Ms Vanneihsangi holds a Masters of Arts degree from Shillong’s North Eastern Hill University. She has previously served as a corporator in the Aizawl Municipal Corporation.
Only 16 of the 174 candidates competing in the Mizoram election were women. Two of them ran in two constituencies each, for a total of 18 women candidates running in the assembly elections.
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