AGARTALA, May 14 (TIWN): Around sixteen officials from Mizoram reached Kanchanpur of Tripura’s North district for supervising counting process of postal ballots polled by Bru (Reang) refugees, chief electoral officer (CEO) of Mizoram Ashwani Kumar told TIWN over telephone on Wednesday.

He said that Tripura government provided a hall in Kanchanpur, where postal ballots will be counted on eight tables, besides providing adequate securities. The CEO of Mizoram also informed that Debasish Chakraborty, general observer to monitor the counting process reached Agartala.     

It may be recalled that the Election Commission (EC) has decided to retain the boxes containing postal ballots polled by Mizoram's Bru (Reang) refugees in Tripura itself, fearing disruption by Mizoram-based NGOs if it tried to transport them to Mizoram.

A total of 11,241 Bru voters, part of the 35,000-odd Mizoram refugees living in six camps in north Tripura, voted through postal ballots from April 1 to 3. About 71 per cent polling was recorded amid strong opposition from as many as nine Mizoram-based NGOs and civil society groups.

As per the direction of EC, the Mizoram CEO has decided to finish the counting process in Tripura itself. The boxes have been kept in a strong-room in Kanchanpur under the supervision of central paramilitary forces.

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.