AIZAWL, Feb 26: The
first-time voters from
among the 35,000 tribal
immigrants from Mizoram,
sheltered in Tripura for the
past 21 years, do not know
whether their names have
been included in the final
electoral rolls published in
Mizoram, refugee leaders
said.
“We are not sure if the
names of new voters from
among immigrants were
included in the final rolls for
the Lok Sabha polls. We are
trying to contact the
authorities to know about
this,” Bruno Msha, General
Secretary, Mizoram Bru
Displaced People’s Forum
(MBDPF), said at Kanchanpur in northern Tripura.
Around 12,018 voters
from among the over 35,000
Reang tribal immigrants
were enrolled in the
electoral list of Mizoram till
last year and 60 per cent of
them cast votes in the
November 28 Mizoram
Assembly polls. “Over
6,000 more people are
eligible for enrolment in as
first-time voters,” the tribal
leader said.
The Mizoram Election
Department officials said
eligible candidates with
proper residential proof of
the Mizoram government
would certainly have their
names included in the
voters’ list.
We are not sure if the names of new voters from among immigrants were included in the final rolls for the Lok Sabha polls. We are trying to contact the authorities to know about this – Bruno Msha, General Secretary, Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum
The final electoral rolls,
published by Mizoram Chief
Electoral Officer Ashish
Kundraon, the total number
of 7,84,748 electorates,
comprises 14,032 new
voters and 4,02,408 women.
“We cannot confirm at the
moment how many names
from among the Reang tribal
refugees (sheltered in seven
Tripura camps) have beenncluded in the electoral
list,” a Mizoram Election
Department official said.
Kundra said: “Just like last
year’s Assembly polls,
polling stations would be set
up in Kanhmun to help
voters from among the
tribal immigrants cast votes
in the upcoming Lok Sabha
polls. But the Election
Commission is yet to make
a final decision.”
Fifteen special polling
stations were set up at
Kanhmun, a village along the
Mizoram-Tripura border, to
facilitate voting by the tribal
refugees during the
Mizoram Assembly polls.
Following an agreement
signed in Delhi in July 2018,
supply of grain and relief
materials to the Reang tribal
immigrants was to be
stopped from October 1 to
compel tribal refugees to
return to their respective villages in Mizoram.
However, following an
appeal by the refugees, the
supply was extended by the
Union Home Ministry till
March 3.
According to an official of
the Tripura Relief and
Revenue Department, over
Rs 370 crore has been spent
on relief packages.
Over 35,000 Reang tribal
refugees, comprising 5,907
families, have been staying
in Tripura’s Kanchanpur
and Panisagar sub-divisions
for the past 21 years
following ethnic tension
after a Mizo forest official
was killed in the neighbouring State. – IANS
Post a Comment