Assembly Elections 2018: Election Commission bows to public pressure, replaces Mizoram CEO

Bowing to huge public pressure, the Election Commission on Thursday removed controversial chief election officer (CEO) of Mizoram SB Shashank and appointed Ashish Kundra, a 1996 batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre, in his place.

EC's notification came two days after thousands of people gathered outside Shashank's office in Aizwal demanding his removal ahead of the November 28 assembly polls.

The EC summoned Shashank to Delhi while sending a high-level team to check the ground situation.

The EC team comprising of Jharkhand CEO Lalbiakthanga Khiangte, secretary SB Joshi and director Nikhil Kumar held talks with Mizoram NGO Coordination Committee (MNCC), an umbrella organisation of non-government organisations and civil society groups.

The civil society and political parties had turned against Shashank since the time he forced the removal of Mizoram's principal secretary (home), Lalninmawia Chuaungo accusing him of interfering in the electoral rolls revision process.

The Commission finally agreed to the main demands of protesting groups, including MNCC's demand to reappoint ousted bureaucrat Chuaungo, allowing Bru tribe refugees living in neighbouring Tripura to vote only in Mizoram and not from their camps in the other state and removal of Shashank as the CEO.

Earlier this month, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for removing Shashank from the top post.