PTI
AIZAWL, APRIL 8
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]izoram Joint NGO Coordination Committee today called off its 72-hour state-wide bandh after the Election Commission and the state government agreed to their demands.
“The EC has agreed to our demand that Bru voters lodged in Tripura relief camps, in future, should exercise franchise in Mizoram, Lalbiakzuala,” chairman of the Joint NGO Coordination committee and President of the central committee of the Young Mizo Association (YMA) said while calling off the bandh at 1 PM today.
The state government, he said, has also agreed to repatriate all Brus from the Tripura relief camps within three months after the completion of the elections and the names of those who refuse to return to Mizoram would be deleted from the voter lists in that state.The Election Commission today deferred the polling date of Mizoram for the election to the lone state Lok Sabha seat and by-poll to the Hrangturzo assembly seat from April nine to April 11.
In a letter sent to the state Chief Electoral Officer Ashwani Kumar, Secretary of the EC Narendra N Bhutolia said that polling would be held in Mizoram on April 11 and re-polling, if any, would be held on April 14.
The EC also decided that provision would be made during future Lok Sabha and Assembly elections for exercise of franchise in Mizoram by the Bru voters living in Tripura whose names were enrolled in the voters list of Mizoram.
The decision of the Commission came after the bandh began at 5 AM yesterday in protest against the exercise of franchise by Bru voters in the Tripura relief camps on April one to April three, through postal ballots.
Except for the south Mizoram’s Lawngtlai and Saiha districts, not a single polling party left the district headquarters for their places of poll duty yesterday due to the bandh.
The bandh completely disrupted normal life in the state with all government offices, educational institutions and shops remaining closed since yesterday.
