Tripura appeals to Bru refugees to enroll names in voters list by Dec 8

Assembly election in Tripura is due early next year

Agartala, Nov 10 (PTI): The Tripura Election department has appealed to Bru refugees staying in relief camps in the State to go to resettlement villages and get their names enrolled in the electoral rolls during the special revision of voters’ list, an official said on Thursday.

The special revision of electoral rolls which has already got underway is scheduled to be over on December 8 to pave the way for publication of final electoral rolls for all the 60 Assembly segments.

Assembly election in Tripura is due early next year.

Chief minister Manik Saha and deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma held a special review meeting on the progress of Bru resettlement on Wednesday where the CM urged the Bru leaders to go to the designated resettlement village to get the benefits.

“The chief minister has categorically appealed to Bru leaders to ensure all the remaining Bru refugees who are still staying in relief camps to settle in 12 designated locations identified by the state”, the officer said quoting Saha.

Saha said the administration is ready to render all possible help to Bru refugees once they relocate to the new places under the historic agreement signed in January 2020.

The Election department targets to enrol as many as 20,000 Bru voters of around 6,300 families. “Altogether 7,165 Bru names have already been enrolled in Tripura while the remaining are expected to get registered in the State’s electoral rolls during the special summary revision”, additional chief electoral officer, Subhasish Bandhopadyay told PTI.

“We urged the Bru leaders present in the meeting to go to the designated resettlement villages and enrol their names during the ongoing revision of electoral rolls. If they don’t do this, they will be deprived of voting right in the 2023 Assembly elections”, he said.

Meanwhile, the State Government has rejected the proposal for setting up resettlement villages for Bru refugees sheltered in Kanchanpur sub-division. However, they will be rehabilitated in new locations – Gomati and South Tripura district.

“All Bru refugees sheltered in four relief camps in Kanchanpur of North Tripura district shall move to new locations by November 30 or else their ration will be discontinued from December 1”, said the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Kanchanpur.