The apex body of the Bru refugees has appealed to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) O P Rawat to set up polling booths in their relief camps in Tripura so that they could exercise franchise in the Mizoram assembly election on November 28
In a letter to CEC and Mizoram Chief Electoral Officer S B Shashank, the Mizoram Bru Displaced Peoples Forum (MBDPF) president A Sawibunga and general secretary Bruno Msha on Tuesday said that 8,777 Bru refuges lodged in relief camps were enrolled in Mamit district of Mizoram bordering Tripura.
"The voters in the relief camps are mostly women and elderly persons making it impossible to cast their votes inside Mizoram," the letter said and appealed to them set up polling booths in the relief camps in Tripura.
The MBDPF leaders also expressed apprehension that the Brus would be facing serious security risks if they go to Mizorm to cast their votes.
The CEC while interacting with media on Wednesday was not categorical on questions whether Bru voters in the relief camps would exercise franchise in Mizoram as committed by the Election Commission on April 7, 2014.
"Certain decisions have to be made in view of fresh developments after free ration and cash dole were stopped by the Centre in the relief camps," Rawat had said.
He said that the Election Commission has been assessing the situation closely.
The NGO Coordination Committee, a conglomeration of three major NGOs and two student bodies, had on Tuesday urged the EC to defranchise all the Bru voters who chose to stay back in Tripura and did not return to Mizoram.
Only 40 of the 5,407 Bru refugee families returned to Mizoram from the six refugee camps in Tripura during the stipulated one month of repatriation process that ended on September 30.
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