Agartala: The Tripura High Court on Monday directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to complete the process of enrolling the names of people belonging to Bru (or Reang) tribe expeditiously irrespective of their names in the Register of Ordinary Resident (RoR) ahead of the village council elections.
The single bench of Justice Arindam Lodh was hearing a petition for the inclusion of the Bru community in the electoral rolls of the state. The SEC had published the electoral rolls on September 16, however, the majority of Bru settlers were not included in the lists on grounds of non-settlement in their allocated place and RoR list.
Aggrieved with the situation, a group of Bru settlers filed a petition in the Tripura High Court, following which the High Court disposed of the case and passed the instructions to the SEC.
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The High Court observed that as per clause 4.9 reproduced under the Quadripartite Agreement, the person belonging to Bru (Reang) community has to be included in the electoral roll and the object of this clause in the Agreement is to treat them as a citizen of the State of Tripura having given their right to exercise their franchise.
The HC underlined that as per the latest report received from the State Revenue Department, there are 15 designated locations identified for the settlement of Bru migrants and till date, 5,009 persons have been enrolled out of approximately 21,703 eligible Bru migrants at different locations. The enrollment of Bru migrants is being done where house constructions are completed and the families have been provided with the RoR which is being done by concerned Block Development Officers.
The Electoral Registration Officers are ready to enroll the names of Bru migrants subject to completion of house constructions and where issues like record of residence are solved by the concerned Block Development Officers, the HC underlined further while disposing the case on Monday.
