Election Commission replaces Mizoram’s CEO after protests

New Delhi, Nov. 15 (IANS): The Election Commission on Thursday replaced Mizoram’s Chief Electoral Officer S.B. Shashank after local groups demanded his removal and appointed Ashish Kundra, a 1996 batch IAS officer, as the new CEO ahead of the November 28 elections.
It also directed that Shashank be attached with the Election Commission “with immediate effect and until further orders”.
The order came after a high-level Election Commission team held meetings last week, including with the Mizoram NGO Coordination Committee (MNCC), which had been spearheading the state-wide protests for Shashank’s removal and reinstatement of the ousted Principal Secretary (Home).
The leaders of MNCC, led by Mizoram’s most powerful NGO, Young Mizo Association, started the agitation last week after Principal Secretary (Home) Lalnunmawia Chuaungo was removed on an Election Commission order.

The MNCC’s agitation was supported by Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla and his ruling party Congress and opposition parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The controversy arose after an administrative tussle between the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and the Principal Secretary (Home) became politicised along ethnic lines.

The issue first came to light when Shasank reportedly wrote to the Election Commission to keep Chuaungo away from election duties.
The allegations reportedly raised against Chuaungo were that he was interfering in the electoral process and had made public statements questioning the need for increased deployment of central paramilitary forces. On November 2, acting on a letter written by Shashank, the Election Commission removed Chuaungo from election duty. This enraged the Mizo civil society which directed their anger at the CEO and served him a ‘Quit Mizoram’ notice while picketing his office.
Christian-majority Mizoram is the only state ruled by the Congress in the northeast.
Civil societies hail EC move to replace poll officer
The Election Commission’s move to replace S B Shashank as Mizoram’s chief electoral officer was welcomed on Thursday by the civil societies that had spearheaded a movement to seek the poll officer’s ouster.
“We welcome anybody as state CEO, except Shashank, who was working against the interests of the Mizo people by making an all-out effort to register Bru voters in the Tripura relief camps without following established procedures,” Vanlalruata, chairman of the NGO, Coordination Committee, told PTI.
The poll panel announced in the morning that IAS officer Ashish Kundra was being appointed as the chief electoral officer of the state with immediate effect.

The order came after some civil society groups in Mizoram demanded Shashank’s ouster over a row on allowing Bru voters lodged in Tripura relief camps to exercise their franchise from there.
Vanlalruata added the civil societies would cooperate with the new CEO if he was willing to work towards free, fair and peaceful polls.

The committee — an apex body of civil societies and students’ organisations in the northeastern state — had sought Shashank’s exit from the state shortly after the state election commission removed principal secretary (home) Lalnunmawia Chuaungo.
The agitation against Shashank was launched a fortnight ago, with the committee demanding that the officer be transferred outside Mizoram.

It also demanded that 11,232 Bru voters in six Tripura relief camps be allowed to exercise their franchise at their respective polling stations in Mizoram, and not in Tripura as committed by the poll panel
Thousands of Bru community members had fled the state and took shelter in Tripura following ethnic clashes in 1997. They have since been living in six relief camps of the neighbouring state.

The EC had earlier this month sent two high-level teams to assess the situation in the state, following an agitation by the civil societies outside the CEO office.
After the visits, the poll panel had asked the Mizoram government to suggest names for the CEO’s post.
Shashank left Mizoram last week after being summoned by the chief election commissioner to Delhi.
Election to the 40-member Assembly is scheduled to be held on November 28.

32 rehabilitated Bru families can cast votes
Members of 32 families of Bru refugess, who were repatriated to Mizoram, will be able to cast their votes in the coming assembly elections in the state, officials said Thursday.

As many as 19 families were rehabilitated in Lunglai district in Mizoram after their repatriation from Tripura, 11 families were settled in Mamit district and two in Kolasib district of the state in the past two months.
The total number of people in these families is around 150 and those who are eligible among them can cast their votes in the polls, a home ministry official said.