Political parties in Christian-majority Mizoram urge EC not to conduct polls on weekend

Major political parties bracing up for Assembly elections in Mizoram requested the Election Commission on Wednesday not to schedule the polls on Saturday and Sunday in order to avoid inconvenience to voters in the Christian-majority state.

The parties made the request to a team of Election Commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, during a meeting at Aizawl.

"The parties, one-by-one made the same request," Kumar told reporters in Aizawl after the meeting with representatives of the political parties.

Kumar said representatives from Aam Aadmi Party, BJP, Congress and the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) took part in the meeting with the Election Commission team. 

 The EC team, headed by Kumar and comprising two other Election Commissioners Anup Kumar Pandey and Arun Goel, are on a visit to the state to take stock of the preparedness for the Assembly elections slated later this year.

The parties, church bodies and local NGOs, ahead of Assembly elections in 2018 had urged the EC not to conduct polls and counting on Sunday as it could cause inconvenience to the church goers and the priests. The request in 2018, however, was made after the announcement of the schedule for polling and counting. 

Sources in Congress said they made the request this time before announcement of the poll dates in order to avoid the 2018-like situation. "As the EC is constantly focussing on increasing the voter turnout, we requested the commission not to conduct polls on Saturday and Sunday as that may cause inconvenience to the church goers and affect turnouts in the polling stations," said a source.

A little over 8.38 lakh voters will exercise their franchise for the 40-member Assembly. The term of the current Mizoram Assembly would end in December.

In the 2018 elections, MNF won 27 seats and wrested power from Congress. Zoram People's Movement (ZPM), another regional party, won six seats, while Congress was reduced to the third spot with just five seats. BJP bagged one seat.

The elections this time, however, is likely to be a fight between the MNF and ZPM as Congress has lost a lot of ground in the Northeast. AAP, interestingly, is planning to contest in at least 25 seats this time. 

CEC Kumar said that they also held a meeting with police and other law enforcement agencies, in which strict instructions were issued to keep strong vigil on the inter-state borders and the borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh. "Instructions have been given to take up more steps to curb the use of liquor, cash and drugs. Our efforts will be to conduct elections in a free, fair and transparent manner," Kumar said.  

He further said that the political parties also urged the EC not to impose "unreasonable" restrictions on the use of posters and other campaign materials and increase the limit of expenditure by the candidates for campaigning.