Guwahati: Mizoram’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S.B. Shashank left for New Delhi on Wednesday after being summoned by the Election Commission as a conglomerate of five non-governmental organisations seeking his ouster refused to relent unless he was removed.
The NGOs had set a November 5 deadline for Mr. Shashank to “quit Mizoram” for allegedly misusing his powers to transfer Lalnunmawia Chuaungo, a Mizo IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre on deputation as Principal Secretary, Home.
Mr. Shashank said he had gone by the rules to complain against Mr. Chuaungo for “interfering with the electoral process” and would go only if the Election Commission instructed him to.
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Mr. Shashank is scheduled to meet the EC officials on Thursday.
The protests, on since Tuesday, spread from State capital Aizawl to other district headquarters with a mob storming the Kolasib district deputy commissioner’s office demanding deletion of the names of Bru refugees from the electoral rolls.
About 40,000 Brus had fled ethnic violence in 1997 and have since spent their lives in refugee camps in adjoining Tripura. A few returned after a quadripartite agreement signed among the Ministry of Home Affairs, the governments of Mizoram and Tripura, and a group representing the refugees.
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Prior to the announcement of elections, organisations batting for the majority Mizos demanded that the Brus who refused to return should not be allowed to vote. The past elections saw electoral officials from Mizoram crossing over to the Tripura relief camps to conduct the elections for the Brus.
“We have only two demands: the CEO should be replaced and the Brus should cast their votes in Mizoram only. We will continue with our Save Mizoram Movement until the ECI issues an order to remove the CEO,” Vanlalruata, leader of the NGO Coordination Committee, said.
The intensity of the protest eased by Wednesday evening, but it was strong enough to prevent Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla from filing his nomination papers in Serchhip, one of the two Assembly seats he is contesting.
On Tuesday evening, a three-member team from the Election Commission had met the activists leading the protests and Mizoram government officials to find a way out of the impasse. “We appreciated each other’s viewpoints. We will submit a report to the commission, which will take a call,” said Nikhil Kumar, a director at the Election Commission.
Elections to the 40-member Mizoram Assembly are scheduled to be held on November 28 and the counting of votes is on December 11.