Mizoram CEO to leave for Delhi on a summons by Election Commission

AIZAWL: Mizoram Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S B Shashank, whose removal has been demanded by the chief minister and several NGOs, said he would leave for New Delhi on Wednesday after being summoned by the Election Commission of India.nnShashank said he would meet the poll panel Thursday in the national capital.nnMeanwhile, hundreds of members of the Young Mizo Association (YMA) continued their picketing in front of the CEO’s office from 8 am.nnThe chairman of the NGO Coordination Committee, Vanlalruata, said the picketing would be called off only after the departure of Shashank.nnThe meeting of a visiting Election Commission team, state government officials and leaders of the NGO Coordination Committee on the current standoff here Tuesday night remained inconclusive as the EC team said that the final call would be made by the commission.nnThe team members said that they would submit their findings to the commission.nnVanlalruata said that Shashank should be transferred from Mizoram and the Bru voters in the Tripura relief camps should exercise their franchise in their respective polling stations in Mizoram.nnThousands of people from the Bru community fled Mizoram in the late 1990s following ethnic clashes. They have been lodged in relief camps in Tripura.nnThe agitators are also protesting the removal of the state’s principal secretary (Home) Lalnunmawia Chuaungo, a native of the state and Gujarat-cadre IAS officer.nnThe state observed a bandh Tuesday in response to a call by the Mizoram Merchants’ Association (MiMA) to extend support to the agitation.nnEarlier on Monday, Chief Minister Lal thanhawla had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that “as people have lost faith in him, the only solution for smooth conduct of the Assembly elections 2018 would be removal of CEO S B Shashank from office forthwith.”nnElection to the 40-member Mizoram Assembly is scheduled for November 28.nnSource: Press Trust of India