Mizoram poll: Bru voters to vote through postal ballots

Bru voters lodged in the six relief camps in north Tripura district will cast their votes through postal ballots in the camps on November 19 and 20, state election department officials said.

Elections to the 40-member Mizoram Assembly would be held in Mizoram on November 25. Following instructions from the Election Commission, the polling of Bru voters would be conducted by election officials sent from Mizoram.

As per the arrangements made by the EC, the Bru voters would exercise franchise at the Postal Ballot Facilitation Centre where they would receive forms from the Nodal Officer of the centre. They would again approach the desk officers of their respective polling stations for postal ballots and submit the postal ballots in the drop boxes.

Though the student bodies and the civil societies objected to the Bru voters casting their votes outside Mizoram, chief election commissioner VS Sampath said that the Bru voters were allowed to vote for the Mizoram polls from outside the state following Gauhati High Court order in 1999.

At least 11,500 Bru voters in the relief camps have votes in nine Assembly constituencies covering three districts  Mamit, Kolasib and Lunglei.