Refugees cook food at a camp in Mizoram on Sept. 24, 2021. The border state currently houses many refugees from civil war-hit Myanmar and strife-torn neighboring Manipur. (Photo: AFP)
Church leaders have joined political parties to urge India’s election commission to change the date for counting votes, slated for Sunday in a Christian-majority northeastern state.
The Election Commission of India on Oct. 9 announced the assembly poll schedule for five provincial states, including northeastern Mizoram. The voting will take place on Nov. 7 in Mizoram while the counting is fixed on Dec. 3, a Sunday.
Like the ruling Mizo National Front and the opposition Congress party, “we too have decided to urge the commission to consider changing the date of counting from Sunday, a day Christians regard as a day of obligation,” said Bishop Stephen Rotluanga of Aizawl, the sole diocese in Mizoram.
Bishop Rotluanga said they will write a letter to the commission on Oct. 12.
“We had a meeting on Oct. 11 of leaders from the Mizoram People’s Forum, representing all Church denominations, and decided to write to the election commission,” the prelate, who acts as an advisor to the forum, told UCA News on Oct. 11.
Congress state unit president K. Lalsawta and Mizo National Front joint secretary B. Lalhmangaihzuala on Oct. 10 requested the commission to change the date of counting.
Mizoram, sandwiched between Bangladesh and Myanmar, is one of three Christian-majority states in India.
Christians form close to 90 percent of the state's 1.1 million people. Some 8 percent are Buddhists while Hindus are a tiny minority of 2.7 percent against their national average of 80 percent.
It is reported that Chief Minister Zoramthanga is also against the decision to count the votes on a Sunday, citing disrespect to Christians.
Zoramthanga, who goes by one name, is seeking to retain power and the Congress is hoping to bounce back from its 2018 debacle.
Lalhmangaihzuala, in his letter to the commission, stated that “Christians in the state consider Sunday an important day for religious gatherings.”
Lalsawta, in a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, also observed that no official programs take place in the state on Sundays.
Other states that go to the polls along with the border state of Mizoram are Rajasthan in the northwest, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in central India, and Telangana in southern India.
Mizoram currently houses refugees from civil war-hit Myanmar and nearly 12,000 displaced persons from neighboring Manipur, where sectarian violence between tribal Christians and the majority Hindus has continued unabated since May 3.
The presence of the refugees has already become a poll issue in Mizoram.
Mizoram’s neighboring states -- Meghalaya and Nagaland – are also known for their Christian population. Christians form close to 90 percent of the inhabitants of these hilly states.
