Kolasib administration asked to delete Bru names from voters' list: JCEO

The Joint Chief Electoral Officer of Mizoram, Zorammuana, has directed the deputy commissioner of Kolasib district to delete the names of 'Bru' voters who were enrolled in the electoral list without holding any public hearing.

Zorammuana said he has written a letter to the Kolasib Deputy Commissioner Dr Arun T in this regard.

He said that hearing should be conducted in the presence of NGOs and local leaders who could identify voters from the Bru community as bona fide residents of the villages.

Altogether 218 'Bru' voters have been enrolled in the district and all of them are living in relief camps in Tripura.

More than 11,000 people belonging to the Bru community fled Mizoram following ethnic clashes in 1997, and they have been living in relief camps in Tripura.

Meanwhile, the Kolasib unit of Mizoram's NGO Coordination Committee Friday asked the deputy commissioner to publicly apologise for enrolling 218 Brus in the voters' list without holding any hearing, a press statement issued by the committee said.

While the committee is in favour of 'Bru' voters casting their votes in their respective villages in Mizoram in the November 28 Assembly elections, the Election Commission has allowed them to vote in relief camps in Tripura.