Bru voters should be allowed to vote in Mizoram: MZP

Aizawl: Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) or the Mizo students’ association today submitted a letter to Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath during his visit to Aizawl and demanded that the Bru community voters residing in Tripura should be allowed to exercise franchise in Mizoram during the state Assembly polls scheduled for 25 November. The MZP, in a letter expressed anguish over the recent conduct of special registration drive for the Brus lodged in the six relief camps in North Tripura district, while the same drive was not undertaken for many Mizo youths who had attained 18 years of age and whose names were not enlisted in the voters lists.[caption id=“attachment_1212253” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Polls are approaching. PTI[/caption] MZP president Lalhmachhuana said 326 new voters enrolled during the special drive were not properly verified to determine whether they were bona-fide residents of Mizoram. The MZP also protested against the EC’s proposal to make arrangements so that the Bru voters could exercise their franchise from their respective camps in Tripura through postal ballots and demanded they should come to Mizoram and cast their votes in their respective polling stations. The MZP leaders also expressed apprehension that there would not be free and fair polling in the Bru relief camps. Lalhmachhuana said they appealed to Sampath to enable students from the villages lodged in hostels to exercise their franchise in the Mizoram University Campus as it would be impossible to go home to cast their votes as they were having their examinations in early-December. “The CEC agreed to look into our pleas and said he would pursue the matters in consultation with the state Chief Electoral Officer,” the MZP leaders said. Earlier, the MZP members greeted the CEC donning traditional ‘puandum’ a dark and red coloured shawl which traditionally signified mourning or unhappiness and carried placards condemning special registration drive for the Bru refugees. Sampath, two Election Commissioners - H S Brahma and Dr Nasim Zaidi and top officials of the EC arrived here for a two-day visit today and discussed the poll preparedness with officials engaged in the electoral process. PTI