Bru refugees to cast votes through postal ballots in camps

Aizawl, Nov 6: The Bru refugees staying in relief camps in

will exercise their franchise through postal ballots in the camps, the CEC said on Wednesday.

The arrangement has been made following an order of the Gauhati High Court in 1999, V S Sampath today told a press conference here.

Civil societies insisted that Bru voters cast their votes inside Mizoram

He said leaders of some organisation had met him on Tuesday and said that new Bru voters were being included in haste and there was a chance that names of people, who were not eligible to vote in the state, could be included in the voters' list. "We will ensure that no wrong entries were made and re-verify the new entrants if required," the CEC said, adding that the Chief Electoral Officers of both Mizoram and Tripura were instructed to ensure free and fair elections in the Bru relief camps.

The people of the Bru community were displaced from Mizoram following ethnic conflicts with the Mizos in 1997 and since then they were sheltered in six camps at Kanchanpur in North Tripura district.

Civil societies in Mizoram had earlier expressed apprehension that the presence of armed groups in relief camps would hinder free and fair polls in the camps and insisted that Bru voters cast their votes in their respective polling stations inside Mizoram.

PTI