Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Stop postal ballots for Bru refugees: Mizo students to EC

AIZAWL: Mizo Students' Union (MSU) has submitted a memorandum to chief election commissioner V S Sampath and Mizoram chief electoral officer (CEO) Ashwani Kumar in protest against the proposed move to let the Bru refugees in relief camps in North Tripura vote through postal ballots in their respective camps.

The MSU, in a press statement on Tuesday, said the Bru voters should cast their votes in their respective polling stations in Mizoram.

"If the Election Commission goes ahead in making arrangements for the Bru voters to cast their votes outside Mizoram (in the relief camps), the MSU would make all out efforts to prevent it," the statement said.

The MSU said the ministry of home affairs and the Mizoram government had made arrangements repeatedly to facilitate the Brus lodged in the relief camps to return to Mizoram and the government and civil societies in Mizoram have also made several appeals to the Brus to return.

Many Brus rejected the compassionate appeals of the people of Mizoram and refused to return due to political benefits they received in the relief camps, the MSU alleged, adding that the students' body was going to obstruct the exercise of franchise by Bru voters outside the state if required.

The MSU also alleged that Bru votes polled through postal ballots in the relief camps were rigged in the earlier elections.

Joint chief electoral officer H Lalengmawia said Mizoram election officials from Friday had begun a special drive to include eligible voters in the Bru relief camps of North Tripura district. The instruction to conduct the special drive was received from the Election Commission of India and nine officials from Mamit district were sent to relief camps on October 17, Lalengmawia added.

"The election department has been entertaining claims for inclusion of those who applied to be enlisted in the state voters lists," Lalengmawia said. Officials from south Mizoram's Lunglei district and Kolasib (on the Mizoram-Assam border) were also instructed to conduct the special drive in the relief camps from Tuesday, he said.

Till now, 11,311 Bru voters from the relief camps have been enlisted in the Mizoram electoral rolls belonging to nine assembly constituencies and covering three districts - Mamit, Lunglei and Kolasib.

Mizoram assembly polls are scheduled to be held on December 4.