Guwahati, Aug. 7: Efforts to organise the people of the Northeast settled in New Delhi as a "political force" in elections got a boost with the Election Commission of India agreeing to organise special camps for their enrolment in the electoral rolls next month.

The chief electoral officer, New Delhi, Chandra Bhushan Kumar, in a meeting with Robin Hibu, the nodal officer of special Delhi police unit for Northeast people, yesterday announced that the special voters' registration camps would be held in September and November. The camps will be organised at the centrally located North East Council House at Chanakyapuri.

Over 6,500 people from the Northeast, who are settled in New Delhi, have already enrolled themselves as voters but the special camps would enable more to enrol under one roof.

"There are thousands of people from the Northeast working in New Delhi or doing their business and are willing to enrol themselves as voters. We need to assist and organise them to prevail upon the political parties and address their problems. Once people from the region become a factor in elections, their issues would attract more attention," Hibu said.

Hibu, originally from Arunachal Pradesh, is an inspector-general of Delhi police and is the nodal officer of the special unit constituted in February last year following the death of Arunachal Pradesh teenager Nido Tania in a hate crime in 2014.

The special unit, with the help of various organisations representing people from the Northeast, will mobilise people from the region for voters' registration.

"In the last Assembly elections, a few political parties had approached and canvassed for votes of the Northeast people in Munirka, Kotla, Mubarakpur, Civil Lines, Safdarjung Enclave and others. Even some of the parties had included the issues concerning people from the region in their manifestos. Enrolment of more and more voters from the region will definitely put pressure on the political parties to address the problems faced by people from the region," he said.

The special police unit's helpline (1093) received over 1,500 calls, seeking police assistance last year. The cases are related to murder/attempt to murder, rape/attempt to rape, molestation, eve-teasing, racial abuse, dispute over salaries and quarrels with landlords, among others.

Apart from handling the criminal cases involving the people from the region, the unit helps arrange medical camps, last rites, blood donation camps, get medical facilities on concessions, and provide legal assistance and the like.

There are over seven lakh people from the Northeast living in the national capital at present.

The special unit will use the social media to reach out to people of the region in New Delhi who are willing to enrol themselves as voters.