Mizoram Chief Election Officer to Be Replaced Before 2018 Assembly Polls? EC Seeks Panel of Names from State Government

New Delhi, November 10:  The Election Commission Saturday initiated the process of finding an alternative to Mizoram chief electoral officer who is facing a massive agitation for his ouster by a conglomerate of civil society and student organisations.

A Commission spokesperson said here that in a meeting held Saturday, the poll panel has "only decided to call for a panel of names for the post of State CEO from chief secretary of Mizoram."

The spokesperson said "next steps" will "only be taken after receiving the report of the team led by Deputy Election Commissioner Sudip Jain". 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 and a Gujarat-cadre IAS officer 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. Mizoram Assembly Polls 2018: Election Commission Team Agrees to Remove CEO SB Shashank – NGO Coordination Committee Chief.

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 lodged 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.