Bru voters in relief camps to vote in special polling booths

Bru voters lodged in relief camps in Tripura would exercise their franchise for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram on April 11 in special polling booths which would be set up for them at Kanhum village in Mizoram-Tripura border, officials said Sunday.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has instructed the Mizoram Election department to make arrangements so that the Bru voters lodged in relief camps in Tripura could exercise franchise at Kanhmun village, the officials said.

The ECI has also instructed the Tripura government to make arrangements for the transport of the Bru voters from their relief camps to the polling booths on April 11.

The officials said that Tripura government would make arrangements for transportation of over 12,000 Bru voters from their respective relief camps in North Tripura district to the Mizoram border on polling day.

Over 6,000 Bru voters lodged in relief camps in Tripura had exercised their franchise at the special polling booths set up Kanhmun village during the Mizoram Assembly election held last year.

Meanwhile, the Aizawl-based NGO Coordination Committee, an umbrella organisation of the civil societies and the student associations demanded that the Bru voters in the relief camps should exercise franchise in the Lok Sabha election at their polling stations where they were enrolled as voters in Mizoram.

The civil societies even threatened to boycott the Lok Sabha polls if the Election Commission goes ahead in making arrangements for the Bru voters to cast their votes at Kanhmun village.

The secretary of Mizo Bru Displaced Peoples Forum (MBDPF), Bruno Msha Sunday said during the Mizoram Assembly election last year vehicles were arranged by the Tripura government.

Msha said special polling booths would be set up for the camp inmates to exercise their franchise on April 11 at Kanmun village in Mamit district and Tripura government would arrange vehicles to transport them and food packets.

The joint chief electoral officer of Mizoram has arrived in Kanchanpur relief camp to discuss about the arrangements with refugee leaders and other camp inmates, officials added.