Mizoram refugee votes to be counted in Tripura

Agartala/Aizawl, April 4 (IANS) In view of the reported threats from NGOs in Aizawl, the Lok Sabha postal ballots of tribal refugees of Mizoram living in relief camps in Tripura will be counted in Tripura.

"The Election Commission has decided to count the postal ballots in Kanchanpur (north Tripura) May 16," Kanchanpur sub-divisional magistrate Nantu Das told IANS.

He said: "This was decided in view of the threat given by local NGOs in Mizoram to obstruct counting of postal ballot papers in Aizawl."

Out of over 36,000 Reang tribal refugees sheltering in the camps in Kanchanpur and Panisagar in northern Tripura for the past 17 years after fleeing their villages in western Mizoram October 1997, 11,500 were on electoral rolls in Mizoram and of them, around 71 percent cast their votes in the past three days -- Tuesday to Thursday.

The poll panel had appointed seven observers to oversee the electoral process, while seven officials from Mizoram also came to the camps to assist.

Das said Mizoram government officials would count the postal ballot under the supervision of an Election Commission observer.

Till May 16, the postal ballots would be preserved in a strong room guarded by the Central Reserve Police Force.

Polling for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram will be held April 9.

Five NGOs and youth organisations, led by the powerful Young Mizo Association (YMA), have been organising protests in Aizawl and other places in Mizoram since last week demanding to revoke poll panel decision to take the refugees' votes through postal ballot.