GUWAHATI: The call to “oust” chief electoral officer S.B Shashank from Mizoram grew shriller with the All NGO Coordination Committee, an umbrella organisation of major civil societies, staging a peaceful sit-in demonstration near the Raj Bhavan in Aizawl on Tuesday morning.
Thousands of protesters, comprising men, women and student association members, held placards and shouted slogans demanding immediate removal of Shashank for his alleged “divisive” style of functioning even as the deadline set for his ouster by the organisation expired on Monday evening.
The NGOs, led by the influential Young Mizo Association (YMA), had sought Shashank’s exit in the wake of the Election Commission (EC) removing the principal secretary (home) Lalnunmawia Chuaungo after the CEO had reportedly complained of “direct interference” by the state government in preparation for the November 28 Assembly polls.
Speaking to The Shillong Times over phone from Aizawl on Tuesday afternoon, YMA president, Vanlalruata said, “He (Shashank) has to go because under his leadership, there can be no free and fair elections in Mizoram. He is creating a rift in the society and we no longer have faith in him.”
“The deputy election commissioner is arriving in the state capital this evening and we will meet him hoping for a positive outcome. If nothing emerges, the protest will continue till he exits the state,” he said.
The YMA leader further said that Mizoram has had a smooth record for conducting elections in the past four decades and that the people of the state wanted that to remain intact.
Chief minister, Lal Thanhawla too had on Monday written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the removal of the CEO as “people had lost faith in him.”
“As people have lost faith in him, the only solution for smooth conduct of the Assembly elections now would be removal of CEO S B Shashank from office forthwith,” Lal Thanhawla had written in the letter.
The protesters alleged that the CEO had hurt the sentiments of the Mizo people by his “pro-Bru” stance for conducting the elections.
Shashank had reportedly accused Lalnunmawia of making an objection to facilitate voting in the upcoming state elections for Bru refugees in Tripura, who had fled Mizoram for almost 22 years following ethnic clashes. The Election Commission thereafter responded with a transfer order for Lalnunmawia and barred him from work related to the government till the elections were over.
The transfer order, however, did not go down well with the civil societies in the state, leading to the CEO ouster call.
