The Congress has unveiled its manifesto for the Mizoram Assembly elections and promised to restore the old pension scheme for government employees, provide Rs 15 lakh cashless health insurance cover and cooking gas cylinder at Rs 750, and create one lakh jobs.

The manifesto was published in Aizawl on Tuesday.

The polls are scheduled for November 7.

The Federation of Mizoram Government Employees & Workers and the Mizoram Movement for Old Pension Scheme wanted the new pension scheme replaced by the OPS, prompting the MNF-led state government early this month to constitute a five-member committee to look into the issue and submit its report in six months.

The Congress promised to reintroduce the OPS as it had done before the Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka Assembly polls, which the party won comfortably.

The Congress-led government in poll-bound Rajasthan had replaced the new pension scheme with the OPS last year.

Mizoram has over 50,000 government employees.

Congress insiders hoped the OPS promise and other welfare measures could help boost the party’s prospects in Mizoram.

Besides the promise to reintroduce the OPS to woo the government employees, the Congress, which is trying to regain power after losing to the MNF in 2018, also said it would offer a health insurance cover of Rs 15 lakh per family for cashless treatment in hospitals “for families that do not have regular government employees”.

For assisting patients undergoing treatment for cancer and other serious ailments, the Congress, if voted to power, will make budgetary provision of Rs 5 crore every year.

The Congress will also provide old age pension at Rs 2,000 per month under the Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension Scheme, besides subsidised LPG cooking gas at Rs 750 per cylinder to Antyodaya Anna Yojana and Priority Household (PHH) ration card holders and women-headed families.

Assistance to widows and disabled under the National Social Assistance Programme shall be enhanced to Rs 2,000 per month, the Congress said.

The party also promised to establish young Mizo entrepreneurs programme (YmElevate) by funding startups to create one lakh jobs for Mizo youths.