Nearly 50% of displaced Mizoram tribal voters enrolled in Tripura

AGARTALA: Around 50 per cent out of the 21,703 eligible voters, displaced from Mizoram 25 years ago following ethnic troubles in the state, have been added to the electoral rolls in Tripura, officials said on Tuesday.

These voters are part of the 37,136 displaced Reang tribals, who migrated from Mizoram and sheltered in seven refugee camps in northern Tripura since 1997.

"Since the Tripura Assembly election is approaching, we want 100 per cent enrollment of the Reang voters by next month but they have to settle in the proposed areas where the settlement process is going on. After their settlement, various documents would be issued against their names. We urged the Reang tribals to come to their settlement camps at the earliest," Tripura Chief Electoral Officer Gitte Kirankumar Dinkarrao told the media.

An official of Tripura's Revenue Department said that as per the agreement, signed in January 2020 between the Centre, Tripura and Mizoram governments and the Reang tribal leaders, over 37,130 displaced Reang tribals comprising 6,959 families are being rehabilitated in 12 locations in four Tripura districts - North Tripura, Dhalai, Gomati, and South Tripura.

"The target for the resettlement of these displaced Reang tribals by August 31 could not be achieved due to the numerous land-related issues, forest land clearance, fresh troubles, threats of agitation against the rehabilitation and numerous other issues," the official, who did not want to be named, told IANS.

In Aizawl, a Mizoram Election Department official said that following the communication from the Tripura Election Department, names of thousands of Reang voters, earlier enrolled in the electoral list of nine assembly constituencies in Mizoram, have been removed.

Officials of Tripura's Tribal Welfare Department also said that due to the complicated enrollment process in regards to the displaced Reang tribals, conduct of the election to the Village Committees in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council was being delayed.

Hearing a writ petition, the Tripura High Court's Judge Arindam Lodh recently directed the State Election Commission to complete the process of preparing electoral roll expeditiously and hold the Village Committee elections in accordance with law taking into account the grievance of the petitioners.