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According to Newslink daily newspaper from Aizawl, Mizoram, there are as many as 32,465 Brus refugees of Mizoram languishing in six camps in remote areas of North Tripura’s Kanchanpur subdivision for over 11 years.

Read below:
Brus back on poll map
Newslink Bureau report:

Aizawl, Nov. 14:  Political parties have suddenly remembered the 32,465 Brus refugees of Mizoram languishing in six camps in remote areas of North Tripura’s Kanchanpur subdivision for over 11 years. Why?  Because, elections to the Mizoram Assembly are fast approaching and no political party can possibly ignore so huge a vote bank.

BJP president Rajnath Singh is scheduled to arrive in Kanchanpur on November 15, after addressing a rally at Aizawl.  He will address a meeting of the refugees in the remote Gachhirampara refugee camp and appeal for votes.  The BJP’s Tripura observer, Darshan Balwally, has been camping in Tripura, touring different camps of Kanchanpur subdivsion to ensure a decent turnout for the national president’s meeting.  “We are hoping for a minimum turnout of 25,000 because people will be coming from all over Kanchanpur,”  said Balwally.

He said the BJP president would also visit the interior of the camps to see the condition of the inmates and raise the issue of repatriation of the refugees to Mizoram at the national level.  Sources from Kanchanpur said the administration was gearing up for Rajnath Singh’s meeting at Gachhirampara.  “We are making appropriate security and crowd control arrangements so that the meeting passes off peacefully,”  said Narayan Debbarma, sub-divisional officer, Kanchanpur.

He said officially there are 32,465 registered refugees in the camps but there are 16,045 registered voters.  “Among the registered voters, only 7,000 have photo-affixed identity cards while the others do not have these though they are also eligible voters,”  said Debbarma.

He added that leaders of all political parties, including the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) of Mizoram, have visited the camps and tried to influence the Bru voters who hold the key to the outcome of the five assembly seats in southwestern Mizoram’s Mamit district.

Source: Newslink.in via Zawlbuk.net

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Constituencies that may have the impact of Bru votes are Hachhek, Dampa and Mamit as show below:

This File photo shows 3 constituencies in north-western part of Mizoram where Bru voters may make difference to the outcome of Mizoram assembly polls to be held on December 2. (Map source: ceomizoram.nic.in)

Our comment:
If Brus have those votes from one constituency, they can easily influence the outcome of the particular constituency. Most MLA constituencies in rural areas have about 20,000 to 30,000 voters. Brus are also known as Reang, Tuikuk, etc by others.

No wonder all parties including MNF & BJP are working hard to get these votes.