GUWAHATI: Unlike past precedents, people displaced by the ethnic violence in Manipur and taking shelter in other states will not be able to vote in the Lok Sabha elections unless they return to their state.
Manipur’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pradeep Kumar Jha said there is no voting arrangement for people who left the state outside it. Last year, the then Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga had stated that some 12,000 displaced people (Kuki-Zomi tribals) from Manipur were taking shelter in his state.
On March 16, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had said the displaced people in Manipur would vote from relief camps. “We have drawn up a scheme which we have notified. We notified the scheme to allow voters in the camps to vote from their respective camps,” Kumar had stated.
The Manipur CEO told The New Indian Express that the scheme is limited to the state's territorial jurisdiction.
“The scheme is for the internally-displaced persons. We know that roughly about 60,000 people from across communities are staying in the relief camps in 10 districts. The scheme has been designed for them. As regards people who are in Mizoram, nobody has approached us. We are not aware of it,” Jha told TNIE.
He said people, who had left the state, could come back to their home district or any district where they would feel comfortable about coming back to vote.
“We are setting up special polling stations (in relief camps). They can vote there. But they will have to apply,” the CEO said.
As per the scheme in Manipur, the internally displaced persons will be considered as ordinary residents of the place where they have been displaced from and treated as electors of the original place.
“…The internally displaced persons are required to submit ID form to the designated AROs (Assistant Returning Officers) at least 10 days before the date of poll. Adequate number of forms shall be made available at the offices of District Election Officers, designated AROs and at the relief camps. A copy of the scheme is also made available in the websites of Chief Electoral Officer, Manipur and District Election Officers,” the Manipur election department stated in a press note on March 16.
In 1997, an estimated 40,000 people from Mizoram’s minority Bru (Reang) community had fled to adjoining Tripura in the wake of an ethnic conflict and resultant tension. After missing two elections, they cast their votes through postal ballots for two elections in Mizoram from their relief camps in Tripura.
However, in the subsequent elections, they were taken to Mizoram. Special polling stations were set up for them in places close to the interstate border. Mizoram and Tripura government had jointly made their travel and security arrangements.
Meanwhile, the displaced people taking shelter in Mizoram said they were unlikely to go to Manipur to cast votes.
“One way travel from (Mizoram capital) Aizawl to (Kuki-Zomi majority) Churachandpur costs Rs 5,000 and the time taken is 13-14 hours. If the government does not take care of our transportation, we will not go to vote,” John Zo, who is the leader of a group of displaced people lodged at a Mizoram government building at Falkland in Aizawl, told this newspaper.
According to his estimates, over 2,000 of the displaced people living in Mizoram are voters of Manipur.
“The displaced Kuki-Zomi tribals are staying in government buildings and rented accommodations,” John said, adding, “The Mizoram government had provided us with ration for the first four weeks. Some local NGOs and Christian organisations from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are now helping us.”
