The Tripura High Court has asked the State Election Commission (SEC) to include the name of all the eligible Bru (Reang) community settlers in the electoral rolls- notwithstanding the presence of their names in the RoR.
Justice Arindam Lodh in his judgment referred to the Quadripartite Agreement .that envisaged the settlement of of the Brus displaced from Mizoram following ethnic violence and pointed out that the agreement clearly ensured their voting rights in Tripura after settlement.
The state election commission had earlier stated that enrollment of Bru settlers were being done where house constructions had been completed and the families had been provided with the RoR by the concerned Block Development Officers. It also stated that the Electoral Registration Officers had been ready to enroll the names of Bru migrants subject to completion of house constructions and where issues like Record of Residence were solved by the concerned Block Development Officers.
But in that process some of the Bru settlers whose names were not in the RoR or whose houses were not completed as yet remained left out of the draft rolls of the SEC published on September 16 last. It was then some displaced Brus moved the Tripura High Court.
Justice Lodh while disposing the petition observed that as per clause 4.9 under the Quadripartite Agreement, the person belonging to Bru (Reang) community had to be included in the electoral roll and that the object of this clause in the Agreement was to treat them as a citizen of the State of Tripura with the right to exercise their franchise.
The High Court in its order directed the SEC to complete the process of preparing electoral roll expeditiously and hold the election ‘in accordance with law taking into account the grievance of the petitioners”. According to the earlier direction of the Tripura high court, the state would hold the village council elections in the TTAADC areas by November.
The HC in its judgment pointed out that as per the latest report received from the State Revenue Department there were 15 designated locations identified for the settlement of Bru migrants and till date 5009 persons had been enrolled out of approximate 21703 eligible Bru migrants at different locations.
