Aizawl, Dec. 2 (PTI): A civil society at Project Veng locality in Kolasib town near here has claimed that they managed to avoid long queues, which causes inconvenience to voters, during the Mizoram Assembly elections on November 28.
The exercise, called 'Zero-Waiting' or 'Queue-less', was a grand success due to the coordinated efforts of the voters, the vice president of the local branch of the Young Mizo Association (YMA), Lalthlana Ngente, said.
The exercise was carried out at the Project Veng locality polling booth near Mizoram-Assam border, Ngente said.
The YMA had sought permission from the election department about the programme and got a green signal, Ngente added.
The YMA leaders divided all 966 registered voters into groups of 60 people in accordance with the enrolment in the voters' list, Ngente said, adding that each group was allotted half an hour as voting time.
The group of voters were notified through public address system and they were asked to reach the polling station at least 15 minutes before their allotted polling time started, Ngente explained.
The voters did not have to stand in queues, the YMA leader said.
Therefore no political party workers could approach them and give them money to purchase their votes, Ngente said.
Over 80 per cent of the voters in the polling station exercised their franchise and the voting process was over by 3 pm, the YMA leader added.
Poll personnel leave for Ajasora village for Tuesday repoll
Polling personnel on Sunday headed for Ajasora polling station in southernmost Tuichawng assembly constituency where repolling is scheduled on Tuesday, election department officials said.
Ajasora village, dominated by the Chakma community, is around 150 km from Lawngtlai town, from where the poll personnel began their journey on Sunday.
The repoll was ordered by the Election Commission as polling could not be completed due to technical snags in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) on the polling day of November 28.
Over 300 voters could not cast their vote in the polling station due to persistent EVM snag.
The 1,080 voters in Ajasora polling station would again cast their vote on Tuesday.
State election department officials said that 101 Voter verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) were replaced while 46 units each of EVM postal and ballot units were substituted during the polling in the state on November 28.
Officials said that 1,839 control units and 1,853 ballot units of EVMs and 1,831 VVPATs were used for the election to the 40-member Mizoram legislature this time around.
The percentage of replacement of VVPAT was on the higher side compared to the national average, they said.
