Postal ballot for Mizoram refugees in Tripura

Agartala/Aizawl, March 20 (IANS) The tribal refugees, lodged in relief camps in Tripura for the past 17 years since they fled their villages in Mizoram, would cast their votes through postal ballots in the election for the lone parliamentary seat from Mizoram April 9, officials said Thursday.

Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla had urged Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) V.S. Sampath in a memorandum earlier this week, not to allow the tribal refugees living in seven relief camps to exercise their franchise to the state's lone Lok Sabha seat through postal ballot.

"If the refugee voters wanted to vote, they should exercise their franchise inside Mizoram, not in the relief camps in Tripura through postal ballots.

"If they persist on casting their votes in the Tripura camps, then their names should be deleted from the voters' lists in Mizoram," the Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee said in a statement quoting Lal Thanhawla's memorandum to the CEC.

Tripura Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Asutosh Jindal told reporters in Agartala: "Like previous occasions, the CEC has decided to take the votes of the refugees in the relief camps in north Tripura through postal ballots."

"At least one facilitation centre would be set up in each of the seven refugee camps in north Tripura so that the eligible refugees could cast their votes for the Mizoram Lok Sabha poll," the CEO said.

He said: "The facilitation centres would be set up under the guidance of the Election Commission of India (ECI). The commission would supervise the work of these centres. The Tripura government might provide the logistical support like security to these facilitation centres."

Earlier this month, the Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF), an organisation of the tribal refugees, all Reang tribes, asked the ECI to conduct elections in the relief camps.

The MBDPF earlier complained to the ECI that there were many eligible voters in the camps who were not included in the voters' lists of Mizoram.

Of the little over 36,000 Reang tribal refugees, locally known as 'Bru', living in the refugee camps in Kanchanpur and Panisagar in Tripura since 1997, only around 11,500 were listed in Mizoram's electoral rolls. They were listed from ten of the 40 assembly constituencies in western Mizoram.

The tribals fled their villages in Mizoram in October 1997 after ethnic clashes with the majority Mizos over the killing of a Mizo forest official. Many have since refused to return home from the camps in Tripura unless their security is guaranteed under a four-corner accord.

Around 5,000 refugees returned to their villages in the past three-and-half years following continued persuasion by Mizoram, Tripura and union home ministry officials.

However, the process got stalled after that.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has told both the prime minister and the union home minister that "continuous presence for over 17 years of refugees from Mizoram has been a matter of concern for Tripura".

The refugees have been insisting that without a formal agreement between the central government, the state governments of Mizoram and Tripura and the tribal leaders, their return to their homes and subsequent rehabilitation will remain uncertain.