Lalduhoma

Lalduhoma was born to 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 School, and completed matriculation from G.M. High School at Champhai. In 1972, he was appointed as the Principal 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.

Following his graduation, he wrote the Indian civil services examination at Shillong and was qualified for IPS in 1977. As an IPS officer, he served as a squad leader at Goa to crush delinquent hippies and smugglers, for which he was recognised by the national media. Then, he was transferred to serve as security in-charge of PM Indira Gandhi at New Delhi in 1982 and was given special promotion as Deputy Commissioner of Police. He was also the Secretary of the organising committee of the 1982 Asian Games, chaired by Rajiv Gandhi.

Inspired by Gandhi to work in politics, particularly on the political and social turmoil in Mizoram caused by Mizo National Front insurgency that started in 1966, Lalduhoma resigned from the police service to join the INC party in 1984. Indira Gandhi's ministry entrusted him to resolve the insurgency by negotiating with the MNF leader Laldenga. He visited Laldenga in London and persuaded him for peace talks with the Government of India. He also made Laldenga to make a message saying that it was INC which served as the instrumental party of peace. The then Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla later reported that the recorded message made by Lalduhoma was the key in the success of INC in the 1984 Mizoram Legislative Assembly election but in the 1984 election Lalduhoma lost from Lunglei constituency. Realising his political situation, Indira Gandhi told the then Governor of Mizoram H. S. Dubey to make provision and privileges for Lalduhoma. Laduhoma was immediately appointed as Vice-Chairman of Mizoram State Planning Board, equal to the rank of cabinet ministers.

Lalduhoma was elected on 31 May 1984 as President of Mizoram INC. Since his political goal focussed on peace talk, he arranged for peace talk between Laldenga and Indira Gandhi, which couldn’t happen due to Indira Gandhi's assasination. In the 1984 Lok Sabha election in December, Laduhoma got elected as an INC candidate from Mizoram constituency. But he was compelled to abdicate his position as the President of INC the same year, as his party lacked actions for peace to his expectations. He also withdrew his membership from INC in 1986, which became a violation of the provision under the Anti-defection law of 1985.

According to the Constitution of India Tenth Schedule, members of the parliament and state legislature can be disqualified if they leave the party representing which they were elected. The Lok Sabha Speaker disqualified him on 24 November 1988, and became the first MP to be disqualified under the anti-defection law after it was enacted in India for giving up membership of the party which he represented. Following this, he formed Mizo National Union (MNU) in 1986 which later merged with Mizoram People's Conference.

Lalduhoma, supported by Students' Joint Action Committee and other political parties, created the Action for Peace Committee in 1986. The committee’s public protests and then mass hunger strike on 23 June prompted a peace talk that culminated in signing of the Mizoram Peace Accord on 30 June. The insurgency was officially terminated and the Mizo National Front became a recognised political party and was offered the state legislature. Lalduhoma briefly joined MNF as Advisor, but soon split from them to establish Mizo National Front (Nationalist), which was later renamed as Zoram Nationalist Party, in 1997. As a ZNP candidate, he was elected to Mizoram Legislative Assembly from Ratu Assembly Constituency in the 2003 election.

In the 2018 election, he and his party joined a coalition party, the Zoram People's Movement (ZPM). Since the coalition party could not obtain recognition from the Election Commission of India as official party at the time, he contested as an independent candidate despite being declared as the Chief Ministerial candidate by ZPM. 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 opposition 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 Speaker highlighting that Lalduhoma had violated the anti-defection law on the ground that he served as leader of ZPM party when he was elected as an independent candidate. Since an independently elected member can be disqualified if he/she joins any party after 6 months, Lalduhoma was disqualified from the legislature. Thus, he became the first MLA of the state to be disqualified from the Mizoram Legislative Assembly. In the Serchhip constituency by-election that happened on 17 April 2021, Lalduhoma reclaimed his legislative seat by defeating his major opponent Vanlalzawma of the MNF party by 3,310 votes. In the 2023 Assembly election, Lalduhoma won from Serchhip constituency and currently he is serving as the 6th CM of Mizoram since 8 December 2023.