Don't allow Bru refugees to vote in relief camps: Lal Thanhawla

Aizawl: Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla has submitted a memorandum to Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath urging him not to allow Bru refugees living in relief camps in Tripura to exercise their franchise in the 9 April elections to the state’s lone Lok Sabha seat. A press statement issued by the Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee today said Lal Thanhawla submitted the memorandum to the CEC in Delhi last week. The chief minister said that if the Bru voters wanted to exercise their franchise, they should cast their votes inside Mizoram, not in the relief camps through postal ballots.[caption id=“attachment_1437913” align=“alignnone” width=“300”]  Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla. Image courtesy PIB[/caption] He also suggested that if the Bru voters in the relief camps insist on casting their votes in the relief camps, then their names should rather be deleted from the voters’ lists in Mizoram. Earlier, the Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum, having its headquarters in the Naisingpara relief camp in North Tripura district, asked the Election Commission to conduct polling for the Lok Sabha polls in the camps. The Election Commission had reportedly agreed to the appeals made by the Bru representatives. PTI