NEW DELHI: Mizoram's chief electoral officer (CEO) SB Shashank might be replaced following massive protests by an NGO and activists of rights groups in Aizawl earlier this week, demanding his ouster.
Election Commission has decided to call for a panel of names from the chief secretary of Mizoram for a panel of names for the post of State chief electoral officer. An EC official said that further steps will only be taken after receiving a report of the visit by the deputy election commissioner’s team to the state. A further decision is likely on Monday.
State chief electoral officer S B Shashank had reportedly sought deployment of additional central armed police forces (CAPF) in the state and complained to the EC that the state's former principal secretary Lalnunmawia Chuaungo was interfering with the poll process. Chuaungo, a native of Mizoram, was relieved of his duties earlier this month.
The NGO Coordination Committee — a conglomerate of civil societies and student organisations — along with other political leaders, had been demanding Shashank's exit from the state since then.
The NGO also demanded that 11,232 Bru voters, lodged 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 in 2014.
Thousands of people from the Bru community had fled Mizoram in 1997 following ethnic clashes. They have since been sheltered in six relief camps in Tripura.
Election to the 40-member Mizoram Assembly will be held on November 28. As many as 211 contestants have filed nominations for the elections.