Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Mizoram SB Shashank was removed on Thursday by the Election Commission, days before the State goes to polls, following widespread protests against him. Ashish Kundra, a 1996 batch IAS officer, will be the new chief electoral officer (CEO) of the State.
The order came after some civil society groups in Mizoram demanded Shashank’s ouster over a row on allowing Bru voters lodged in Tripura relief camps to exercise their franchise from there. The protesters had asked Shashank to quit by November 5 and leave the state after the principal secretary (home), Lalninmawia Chuaungo, was removed following the chief electoral officer’s complaint against him.
“The Election Commission of India in consultation with the Government of Mizoram hereby nominates Ashish Kundra as the chief electoral officer for the state of Mizoram with immediate effect,” a notification issued by the EC said. Mizoram goes to the polls on November 28. The EC in its order further stated that Shashank shall be attached with the Commission with immediate effect and until further orders.
The EC’s move was welcomed by the civil societies that had spearheaded a movement to seek the poll officer’s ouster. “We welcome anybody as state CEO, except Shashank, who was working against the interests of the Mizo people by making an all-out effort to register Bru voters in the Tripura relief camps without following established procedures,” Vanlalruata, chairman of the NGO, Coordination Committee said.
Shashank had accused Chuaungo of interfering with the revision of electoral rolls of Bru refugees from Mizoram, who have been living in relief camps in Tripura since ethnic violence drove them away in 1997. Most Mizos, including the State Government, are opposed to the Election Commission’s proposal for allowing Brus to vote at their camps and want them to return to Mizoram for that.
The protests had forced the Election Commission (EC) to send a senior official for talks with the apex body leading the stir while accepting the “broad contours” of its resolution on the CEO and Bru refugees submitted to a poll panel delegation.
After thousands of people gathered outside Shashank’s office in Aizawl on Tuesday to seek his removal ahead of the November 28 assembly polls, an EC team comprising Jharkhand CEO Lalbiakthanga Khiangte, EC director Nikhil Kumar and EC secretary S.B. Joshi held talks with the Mizoram NGO Coordination Committee, an umbrella organisation of non-Government organisations and civil society groups. . After the visits, the poll panel had asked the Mizoram Government to suggest names for the CEO’s post.
Shawshank reportedly sought the deployment of additional Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in the state. This did not go down well with the committee.
Earlier this month, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue. “... As people have lost faith in him (Shashank), the only solution for the smooth conduct of the Assembly elections 2018 would be removal of CEO S B Shashank from office forthwith,” he said.