At least 11,301 Brus in the six relief camps in neighbouring North Tripura district would be eligible to exercise franchise in the Mizoram assembly polls, scheduled for December four, state Joint Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) H. Lalengmawia today said.
Lalengmawia told PTI that though the Election Commission was yet to issue specific instructions, it was most likely that election officials would go to the six relief camps in Tripura to conduct the polls in all the relief camps to ensure that all the eligible voters cast their votes.
"It is most likely that ballot papers and boxes would be used in the relief camps as it would not be feasible to use Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) due to the fact that voters in a single camp have votes in different assembly constituencies in Mizoram covering three districts," he said.
Among the six relief camps, Naisingpara relief camp has the highest number of electorate at 5,872, followed by Ashapara at 2,089 while Khakchangpara relief camp with 390 voters has the lowest number of voters.
Bru voters in the six relief camps were from nine state assembly constituencies - Hachhek,Dampa, Mamit, Tuirial, Kolasib, Serlui, Lunglei South, Thorang and West Tuipui, covering Mamit, Kolasib and Lunglei districts.
Voters, originally from Mamit district were the highest at 8,903, followed by voters from Kolasib district at 1,708 and Lunglei district at 690.
Thousands of Brus were lodged in the six relief camps since the later part of 1997 after Lalzawmliana, a forest guard of the state Environment and Forest department was gunned down by Bru militants near the Mizoram-Tripura border Persang hamlet inside the Dampa Tiger Reserve on October 21, 1997.
State election department officials admitted that a number of Bru voters enrolled in the relief camps might have returned to Mizoram during the repatriation process which commenced from 2010 till date.
