EC rejects Mizoram BJP's plea to extend date of filing nominations for assembly polls

Nov 8 (AZINS) The Election Commission on Thursday rejected a plea of the BJP to extend the last date of filing nominations for the November 28 assembly polls in Mizoram.

The party had moved the plea citing the law and order situation in the northeastern state.

In a letter to state BJP chief J V Hluna, the poll panel said his plea has "not been acceded to on account of peace and normalcy in the state today." Friday is the last date of filing nominations.

There have been protests demanding the ouster of Mizoram Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S B Shashank by the NGO Coordination Committee.

But the protests were called off Wednesday after the officer left for Delhi.

The NGO Coordination Committee, the apex body of civil societies and students' organisations in the north-eastern state, has been demanding that Shashank be replaced and transferred outside the state.

It also demanded that 11,232 Bru voters lodged in six Tripura relief camps be allowed to exercise their franchise at their respective polling stations in Mizoram and not in Tripura as committed by the poll panel in 2014.