Don’t arrange transport for Bru voters from Tripura refugee camps: Mizo bodies to EC

AIZAWL: First, it was the Mizoram chief electoral officer. Then, where the state’s Bru refugees should vote. Now, the powerful NGO Coordination Committee has a bone to pick with the Election Commission over how Bru voters from Tripura will get to their polling stations.
The conglomerate of Mizo civil society organisations has issued an 'appeal' to the government and political parties, urging them to not provide transportation for Bru voters to travel to their polling stations.“The Election Commission can’t be making special arrangements to accommodate the Brus from Tripura camps. If the Brus want to vote, they should travel to the polling station on their own. Why should the government or the administration arrange for voters to travel? Does it happen anywhere else?” NGO Coordination Committee chairperson Vanlalruata said on Monday.
Attributing this demand to a larger concern, he said, “The government has to bear all election expenses. Why should there be additional expenditure?”
“Why give them incentive to stay on?” Vanlalruata, who is also president of the Young Mizo Association, added.
One of the reasons the Brus, who have been living in refugee camps in Tripura for 21 years now, had cited for not being able to vote in Mizoram was the long, difficult journey to the three districts in Mizoram where they are registered as voters. Because of the hilly terrain and poor road network, one would have to cover 133 km to travel from North Tripura to Mamit, 221 km to Kolasib and 364 km to Lunglei – and these are just the distances to the district headquarters. Public transport in these areas is either non-existent or unreliable. With no travel arrangement, the Brus from Tripura may not be able to vote at all.
“Why do they want to vote in the election of a state where they don’t want to live?” Vanlalruata countered. And this, perhaps, is what lies at the centre of the new demand.
The issue of the voting rights of Brus has kept the poll-bound state on the boil for the past two weeks. Chief electoral officer SB Shashank was replaced last week after a protracted protest against him by the Mizo civil society for “advocating” for the Brus.