Mizoram polls: 55 per cent of Bru voters turn up to exercise franchise

Around 55 per cent of Bru voters in the six relief camps in Tripura came here Wednesday and exercised their franchise at the 15 special polling booths created for them after public outrage over their place of voting.

There was an apprehension that voter turnout of Bru refugees would be very less as some of their leaders were initially reluctant to come to Mizoram and were demanding the earlier system of exercising their franchise at the relief camps.

"Around 55 per cent of the Bru refugees have voted. This percentage will go up further as around 200 more people are still waiting to cast their votes," a senior Election Commission official told PTI.

The Bru voters are taking more time than usual because most of them are unaware of the EVM operation as till now, they have casted their votes through postal ballots from the camps, he added.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has created 15 special polling booths in Kanhmun village, along the Mizoram-Tripura border, for 11,987 Bru refugees who are part of nine Assembly constituencies in three districts of the hill state.

Addressing a press conference at Aizawl, Mizoram Chief Electoral Officer Ashish Kundra said: "Voting at Kanhmun went very peacefully. My special gratitude to the civil society, particularly the Young Mizo Association (YMA), for going out of their way to help the Bru refugees in casting their votes."