EC has agreed to remove poll official, claims Mizo group

GUWAHATI/AIZAWL: The influential civil society group, NGO Coordination Committee of Mizoram (MNCC), called off its agitation on Friday after it said the Election Commission agreed to both its demands - to remove chief electoral officer (CEO) SB Shashank and make it mandatory for Bru refugees in Tripura to cast their votes within Mizoram where they are registered as voters - at a meeting in Aizawl.

Umbrella body MNCC's chairperson Vanlalruata said, "The EC has agreed to our demands. We asked for an assurance and they gave it to us. So, we have called off our protest." He added that the EC team said it would take a couple of days to name the new CEO. Shashank has been camping in Delhi, as matters get resolved in Aizawl.

On Friday, an EC team, led by deputy election commissioner Sudeep Jain, arrived in Aizawl for the second time this week in the wake of the ongoing controversy over the CEO and the voting rights of Bru refugees living in Tripura. The team is expected to brief the commission once it is back in Delhi. Even Shashank may place his version in EC.

The civil society groups had launched a gherao of the CEO's office and described him as 'a Bru sympathizer.' It also said that principal secretary for home Lalnunmawia Chuaungo, who was transferred following a complaint from Shashank that he was 'interfering with the poll process, was a Mizo hero who had been wronged by the EC. Chuaungo is a Gujarat-cadre IAS officer sent on deputation to Mizoram.

Their call was echoed by CM Lal Thanhawla in a recent letter to PM Narendra Modi.