The plea filed in the Supreme Court; seeks protection of the voting rights of displaced Manipur residents
Last Updated on April 11, 2024 by News Desk
Recently, a plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking protection of 18000 Manipur residents who fled Manipur due to the ethnic conflict going on since last year.
The plea was filed by Naulak Khamsuanthang and others urging the election commission to make polling arrangements for the internally displaced people (IDPs) mostly from the Kuki-Zo ethnicity.
The petition stated there are no arrangements made to ensure that IDPs can cast their votes in the upcoming general elections. Therefore, these people have been denied their voting rights.
“for these internally displaced persons (IDPs), no arrangement has been made for them to vote in the forthcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Hence approximately 18,000 persons have been denied the right to vote … In the absence of such voting facility to the IDPs, many tribal voters are not able to exercise their franchise, not because they do not want to vote but because they have been denied the opportunity to Vote.” The petition stated.
The petitioner represented by advocate Satya Mitra and others also mentioned that most of the IDPs are living outside of Manipur scattered in at least 6 states including Mizoram, Delhi and NCR, etc., and making their living by doing odd and miserable jobs.
They alleged that ECI has not made any credible efforts and arrangements for the voting rights of thousands of Kuki-Zo-Hmar IDPs.
The Supreme Court bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra admitted the plea. However, it refused to list the matter for urgent hearing.
Written by Shagun Behal
