AIZAWL, Nov 14 - A large number of agitators demonstrated before the office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Kolasib on the Mizoram-Assam border today for allegedly enrolling 218 new Bru voters without conducting hearing and physical verification.
Mizoram Police said the agitators held demonstrations in front of the office of the DC, Arun T, since morning though he did not attend office. This is the second instance of people demonstrating against a poll official in the State.
The DC of a district is also its election officer for the Assembly polls. Polling for the 40-member Mizoram Assembly is slated to be held on November 28.
Thousands had organised a picket in front of the Chief Electoral Officer SB Shashank�s office on November 6 and November 7, demanding his removal.
Shashank was forced to leave the State in the face of large-scale demonstrations and the Election Commission sent two high-level ECI teams on November 6 and November 9 to examine the situation.
The Kolasib DC has been accused by the All NGO Coordination Committee, the apex civil society and students� body, of enrolling 218 Brus lodged in the six relief camps in Tripura without conducting any hearing and ascertaining whether they were bona fide residents of Mizoram.
The leaders of the Committee�s Kolasib unit have alleged that Arun T was trying to conceal his actions and that his efforts resulted in enlisting of Bru voters who could be suspected of �not being bona fide residents of the State�, Committee sources said.
The Committee district unit had on Monday demanded that the DC leave Kolasib district on or before 5 PM on Tuesday, they said.
The committee leaders, in a letter, accused the DC of lying a number of times and that the people of Kolasib district did not have confidence in him to conduct the election to the State Assembly under his supervision.
Copies of the letter were sent to the State Governor K Rajasekharan, Chief Secretary Arvind Ray and the CEO, the sources said.
The alleged actions of the DC had resulted in a mob attack on the office of the Kolasib DC on the night of November 6 in which a few people, including a senior police official, were injured and the police resorted to teargassing.
The Mizoram Joint CEO, Zorammuana, had issued an order to the Kolasib DC on November 6, asking him to delete all the 218 names and conduct a public hearing in the presence of village leaders and NGOs to ascertain the true identities of the newly-enrolled voters lodged in the Bru relief camps, officials said.
The talks held between the Committee�s Kolasib district unit and senior district police officials, besides talks with senior Home Department officials on Tuesday night, had remained inconclusive. � PTI