Mizo student body flags 'unusually high' voter growth in Southern Mizoram during roll revision

Mizoram's influential student organisation, the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), on Tuesday, July 14 challenged Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Garima Gupta's assertion that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) 2026 had not revealed any abnormal growth in the state's electoral rolls, alleging significant increases in voter numbers in several Chakma-majority villages in southern Mizoram.

Addressing reporters at the organisation's office in Aizawl, MZP leaders said their analysis of the draft electoral rolls published on July 4 indicated unusually high growth in the number of electors in Chakma-dominated villages, in contrast to comparatively modest increases in Mizo-majority villages located in the same region.

According to the organisation, voter growth in Chakma-majority villages ranged from 50 per cent to as high as 376 per cent, while predominantly Mizo villages in the Chakma area recorded increases of only 10 to 20 per cent.

Citing Sumasumi village in Lunglei district as an example, the MZP said the number of registered electors had increased from 52 in the 2005 electoral roll to 248 in the latest draft roll, reflecting a rise of 376.92 per cent.

The student body further claimed that seven Chakma-majority villages recorded voter growth exceeding 200 per cent, while 16 others registered increases of more than 100 per cent. It said its assessment covered 95 villages, with more than 30 showing an increase of over 50 per cent in the number of electors.

Questioning the CEO's assessment, the MZP alleged that the implementation and supervision of the SIR exercise had not received adequate attention. It urged Gupta to personally monitor the electoral roll revision process until all discrepancies were thoroughly examined and addressed.

The organisation also alleged deficiencies in electoral mapping across five Assembly constituencies and appealed to election officials to exercise heightened vigilance during the Claims and Objections period from July 4 to August 4, when applications for inclusion, deletion and correction of electoral roll entries are being processed.

The MZP's remarks came days after CEO Garima Gupta stated that the election department had not detected any abnormal increase in voter numbers or evidence of foreign nationals being included in the electoral rolls following the SIR exercise conducted between May 30 and June 28.

"We do not see any case of a foreign national being entered in the electoral roll. As per the draft roll, there is no large increase or abnormal growth in voter numbers," Gupta had told a press conference after the publication of the draft rolls.

The issue has also drawn political attention. On Tuesday, political parties meeting in Aizawl adopted a joint resolution urging the deletion of names from the draft electoral rolls if they lacked linkage with records from the last Special Intensive Revision conducted in 2005. The parties also called for all entries carrying remarks or appearing doubtful to undergo detailed verification in coordination with civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations.

Providing details of the revision exercise, the CEO had said that enumeration forms of 46,163 voters, representing 5.28 per cent of the 2025 electorate, could not be collected during the SIR. Of these, 21,295 electors were found to have died, 13,978 had permanently shifted, likely to other states or foreign countries, 8,333 were untraceable despite repeated visits, and 2,248 were already enrolled elsewhere. She also said that 309 voters whose names appeared in the 2025 electoral rolls declined enrolment during the SIR on religious grounds.

The draft electoral rolls published on July 4 contain 8,28,906 electors, including 4,29,881 women voters.