AIZAWL: A delegation of the election commission of India (ECI) headed by chief election commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar arrived in Aizawl on Tuesday (August 29) on a three-day visit to take stock of preparedness for the Mizoram assembly polls to be held later this year, an official statement said.
Besides Kumar, the delegation included two election commissioners Anup Chandra Panday and Arun Goel, senior deputy election commissioner Nitesh Vyas, deputy election commissioner Hirdesh Kumar and 12 other officials.
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Upon their arrival in Aizawl, the ECI team convened meetings with representatives of national and state recognised political parties and review poll preparedness with law enforcement agencies, Mizoram chief electoral officer (CEO), state police nodal officer (SPNO) and central armed police force (CAPF) to ensure free and fair elections, the official statement said.
On Wednesday (August 30), the election commission (EC) delegation will hold meetings with Mizoram chief secretary Renu Sharma and director general of police (DGP) Anil Shukla.
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The EC team will also review poll preparedness with district election officers (DEO) and superintendent of police (SP) of all Mizoram districts.
On Thursday (August 31), the ECI officials will review activities of systematic voter education and electoral participation (SVEEP) and will interact with state icons, persons with disabilities (PwD) voters and young voters before they leave for Delhi.
Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Mizoram and Rajasthan are likely to be held by the months of October and November this year.
The election commission had last week visited Chhattisgarh to update itself on the poll preparedness there.
The term of the legislative assembly of Mizoram ends on December 17 this year.
In the 40-member Mizoram assembly, the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) has 27 members, main opposition Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) has six legislators, Congress has 5 MLAs and BJP has one member.
Dr K Beichhua, who resigned as minister in December last year and later expelled from the MNF, said that he will join the BJP before the Mizoram assembly elections.