India News | Displaced Bru People in Tripura Should Not Be Allowed to Vote in Mizoram Bypoll: ZPM
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Mizoram's main opposition party Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) on Friday wrote to state Chief Electoral Officer P Jawahar, requesting him not to permit the Bru tribal people, who have been allowed to resettle in Tripura, to exercise their franchise in the upcoming bypoll to the Tuirial assembly segment.
Aizawl, Oct 1 (PTI) Mizoram's main opposition party Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) on Friday wrote to state Chief Electoral Officer P Jawahar, requesting him not to permit the Bru tribal people, who have been allowed to resettle in Tripura, to exercise their franchise in the upcoming bypoll to the Tuirial assembly segment.
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The byelection will be held on October 30.
"The party strongly objected to casting of votes by Bru voters in the forthcoming by-election as the Centre had already permitted them to permanently settle in Tripura," the ZPM said in the letter.
In November last year, the party had written to the Election Commission, urging it to delete names of nearly 12,000 Bru voters from the state electoral roll.
Thousands of the Bru tribal people have been living in relief camps in Tripura since 1997. They had fled their homeland Mizoram to reach the neighbouring state because of ethnic clashes. By now, their number has risen to over 35,000.
Several displaced Bru families found new homes in Tripura following an agreement signed in January last year among representatives of the community, the Centre and the governments of Tripura and Mizoram.
A 1,200-square feet plot has been allotted to each rehabilitated Bru family and Rs 1.5 lakh provided by the government to set up a home. The Tripura government has decided to provide Antodaya cards to 6,959 Bru families, who are being permanently resettled in the state.
Nearly 12,000 Bru electors are still enrolled in the voter list in Mizoram as their resettlement in neighbouring Tripura is under process, an official of the CEO's office said.
According to state Joint Chief Electoral Officer David Liansanglura Pachuau, there are now 17,927 voters in the Tuirial assembly constituency.
Of them, 663 are Bru voters who are either resettled or in the process of resettling in the neighbouring state, and they belonged to two polling stations, he said.
People's Conference Party (PCP) also urged the poll panel, to delete the names of 663 Bru voters from the list in the Tuirial assembly constituency before the by-election.
The by-poll was necessitated due to the death of ZPM MLA Andrew H Thangliana on August 17. Votes will be counted on November 2.
The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) candidate K Laldawngliana is pitted against the ZPM's nominee Laltlanmawia and the Congress' Chalrosanga Ralte. The BJP is yet to declare name of its candidate.
Notably, there have been at least nine attempts for repatriation of the Brus to Mizoram, and the latest round of such exercise was organised in October-November in 2019.
"At least 1,165 Brus belonging to 289 families had returned to Mizoram. Overall 11,107 Bru refugees have been repatriated," another official said.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)