India, June 18 -- The election to Mizoram's lone Rajya Sabha seat has become a direct contest between the ruling Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) and the opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) on Thursday after both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress announced that they would abstain from voting.

The decision by the BJP, which has two MLAs in the 40-member Mizoram Legislative Assembly, and the Congress, which has one legislator, effectively narrows the contest to candidates fielded by the ruling ZPM and the MNF. Both parties issued statements on Wednesday confirming that their legislators would not participate in the voting process.

State BJP leaders said the party's two MLAs - K Beichhua, who also serves as the Mizoram BJP pr...