Counting of votes for the Mizoram assembly elections will take place on December 4, the Election Commission of India announced on Friday.
Counting was initially scheduled to take place on December 3, along with Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
Earlier in the day, members of the Mizoram NGO Coordination Committee (NGOCC) staged protests across the state seeking a change in the counting date.
Addressing the rally near Raj Bhawan here, NGOCC chairman Lalhmachhuana blamed the Election Commission for remaining silent on the issue despite repeated appeals by political parties, churches and NGOs to reschedule the counting date as it falls on a Sunday, a sacred day for Christians, who form the majority of the state’s population.
The NGOCC had also recently sent a delegation to Delhi and discussed the issue with poll panel officials, he said.
“It is unfortunate that the ECI remained silent on the issue and failed to respond to our appeals,” he said.
Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) president H Lalthianghlima and Mizo Students Union (MSU) president Samuel Zoramthanpuia vehemently blamed state chief electoral officer Madhup Vyas for allegedly not taking sincere steps to change the counting date.
Polling for the 40-member Mizoram assembly was held on November 7 where more than 80 per cent of over 8.57 lakh voters exercised their franchise to decide the fate of 174 candidates.
Ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), main opposition party Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) and Congress had contested in 40 seats each.
The BJP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had contested in 23 and 4 seats, respectively. There were 27 independent candidates.
Meanwhile, officials said the election department, police machinery and civil administration are fully prepared to conduct counting on Sunday.
Counting will begin at 8 am in all 13 counting centres and 40 counting halls across that state in which postal ballots will be counted first followed by votes polled in EVMs, they said.
Over 4,000 counting personnel will be involved in the counting and there will be 399 EVM tables and 56 postal ballot tables, officials added.
(With PTI inputs)
