More than 52 per cent of displaced Brus cast their votes in the border village of Kanhmun, in Mizoram on Wednesday.

Election officials in Tripura provided 600 vehicles to transport the Bru voters, a move opposed by Mizo groups. However, the Young Mizo Association provided refreshments to voters at Kanhmun.

The Election Commission enrolled 1,334 new voters in the Tripura camps, with the total number of displaced Bru voters being 11,987.

The Election Commission created 15 special polling booths in Kanhmun village, along the Mizoram-Tripura border.

Addressing a press conference at Aizawl, Mizoram chief electoral officer Ashish Kundra said: “Voting at Kanhmun went very peacefully. My special gratitude to the civil society, particularly the Young Mizo Association (YMA), for going out of their way to help the Bru refugees cast their votes.”

The YMA put up a hoarding welcoming Bru voters, erected a tent with benches and arranged pork curry for the refugees coming from six camps in Tripura that are situated at varying distances of 6 to 60km from the border.

“The gesture of the YMA and general public showed the rich tradition of Mizo culture. The voting exercise at Kanhmun was successful through a partnership between the YMA and us,” Kundra said.

He also appreciated the Tripura government for arranging transportation facilities from the camps although the cost will be borne by the Mizoram CEO’s office.

“I am satisfied with the voter turnout at Kanhmun because some leaders were insisting on voting at the camps just five-six days ago. From there, we could create a congenial atmosphere within this short phase of time and today saw such a huge number,” Kundra said.

The Assembly polls in 2003 are the only occasion when Brus in the camps used EVMs. In elections before and after that, they have used paper postal ballots which were collected in boxes by the commission in polling booths set up in the camps. The commission carried out an extensive EVM awareness drive in the camps to teach them how to use EVMs. A team led by nodal officer Kumar Abhishek, including assistant inspector-general (rraining) Devesh Mahla and four other officials, camped in Kanhmum for a week for building confidence in the community until polling.

Mizoram recorded the lowest violations of the poll code — three — due to extensive monitoring by election watchdog Mizoram Peoples Forum.