The Election Commission's move to replace S B Shashank as Mizoram's chief electoral officer was welcomed on Thursday by the civil societies that had spearheaded a movement to seek the poll officer's ouster.
"We welcome anybody as state CEO, except Shashank, who was working against the interests of the Mizo people by making an all-out effort to register Bru voters in the Tripura relief camps without following established procedures," Vanlalruata, chairman of the NGO, Coordination Committee, told PTI.
The poll panel announced in the morning that IAS officer Ashish Kundra was being appointed as the chief electoral officer of the state with immediate effect.
The civil societies would cooperate with the new CEO if he was willing to work towards free, fair and peaceful polls, Vanlalruata added.
The committee -- an apex body of civil societies and students' organisations in the northeastern state -- had sought Shashank's exit from the state shortly after the state election commission removed principal secretary (home) Lalnunmawia Chuaungo.
The agitation against Shashank was launched a fortnight ago, with the committee demanding that the officer be transferred outside Mizoram.
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It also demanded that 11,232 Bru voters in six Tripura relief camps be allowed to exercise their franchise at their respective polling stations in Mizoram, and not in Tripura as committed by the poll panel.
Thousands of Bru community members had fled the state and took shelter in Tripura following ethnic clashes in 1997. They have since been living in six relief camps of the neighbouring state.
The EC had earlier this month sent two high-level teams to assess the situation in the state, following an agitation by the civil societies outside the CEO office.
After the visits, the poll panel had asked the Mizoram government to suggest names for the CEO's post.
Shashank left Mizoram last week after being summoned by the chief election commissioner to Delhi.
Election to the 40-member Assembly is scheduled to be held on November 28.
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