Mizoram strike called off after poll deferred
The 72-hour bandh (strike) called by some local organisations in Mizoram was called off today, hours after the Indian Election Commission announced its decision to defer the polling day in the state due to the shutdown that started yesterday, reports Indian television channel NDTV.
Earlier in the day, the Election Commission deferred the date for polls to the lone Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram and by-poll to Hrangturzo assembly seat to April 11 from April 9 in view of a state-wide bandh called against the exercise of franchise by Bru voters lodged in Tripura camps through postal ballots, according to a report of the Hindustan Times.
Polling will now be held in Mizoram on April 11 and re-polling, if any, on April 14, EC secretary Narendra N Bhutolia said in a letter to the state chief electoral officer Ashwani Kumar.
The EC decision followed the 72-hour state-wide bandh called by the Joint NGO Coordination yesterday in protest against the exercise of franchise by Bru voters in six relief camps in Tripura on April 1 to April 3, through postal ballots.
The EC also decided the provision would be made during future elections for exercise of franchise within the state of Mizoram by Bru voters living in Tripura, but enrolled in the voter list of Mizoram.
Except for the south Mizoram's Lawngtlai and Saiha districts, not a single polling party left the district headquarters for poll duty yesterday due to the bandh, Hindustan Times reported.
The bandh, however, was not enforced in the two districts due to late delivery of information from Aizawl, Joint NGO Coordination chairman Lalbiakzuala said.
Meanwhile, the Joint NGO Coordination's demand of repatriation of all Brus from the six relief camps in North Tripura district within three months after completion of the election process and deletion of the names of those who would refuse to return to Mizoram from the voter lists was being deliberated upon by top state government officials.
The Bru refugees escaped from Mizoram to the bordering state of Tripura nearly 17 years ago in the wake of ethnic clashes with the majority Mizo tribe.
Of the 36,000 Bru refugees living in Kanchanpur and Panisagar refugee camps in Tripura, nearly 11,500 are listed in Mizoram's electoral rolls.
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