Mizoram NGOs to hold protests on Friday to demand rescheduling of vote counting date

election officials said everything is in place to conduct the counting on Sunday.

Mizoram NGO Coordination Committee (NGOCC), a conglomerate of major civil societies and student bodies, will stage protests across the state on Friday to seek a change in the date of counting of votes for state assembly polls.

This was decided at a meeting of the NGOCC here on Thursday evening, committee general secretary Malsawmliana said. The meeting expressed disappointment over the election commission’s silence on the pleas from various quarters to reschedule the counting date (December 3) as it falls on a Sunday, a sacred day for Christians, who form the majority of the state’s population, he said. "Those who attended the meeting decided to stage demonstrations across the state on Friday in protests against ECI failure to reschedule the counting day despite repeated appeals by all political parties, churches and NGOCC," the committee said in a statement.

In Aizawl, the demonstration will be held at Treasury Square near Raj Bhavan between 11am and 1pm, the statement said. Protests will also be held in other district headquarters under the leadership of NGOCC, it said. When the ECI had announced the election schedule on October 9, it had fixed December 3 as the day for counting of votes for five states Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana. However, political parties, NGOs, churches and other organisations in Mizoram did not like the ECI’s schedule because it fell on a Sunday and appealed to the poll panel to reschedule the counting date.

On Monday, a five-member delegation of the NGOCC met Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and other officials in Delhi and appealed to them to reschedule the counting date. Kumar on his part had told the NGOCC leaders that the matter will be discussed by full members of the Election Commission soon as one election commissioner was not present at Monday’s meeting. Polling for the 40-member Mizoram assembly was held on November 7 where more than 80 per cent of over 8.57 lakh voters cast their votes to decide the fate of 174 candidates. Meanwhile, election officials said everything is in place to conduct the counting on Sunday.