Mr Justice M N Venkatachaliah
Chairman
National Human Rights Commission of India
Sardar Patel Bhawan
Parliament Street
New Delhi-110001

Dear Justice Venkatachaliah ,

I am writing to seek urgent intervention of the National Human Rights Commission to ensure that 50,000 internally displaced Reangs from Mizoram State of India presently sheltered at Dasda, Anandabazar, Kashirampur and Gachhirampara of Kanchampur subdivision of North Tripura are allowed to enjoy right to participate in the government by participating in the forthcoming Assembly Elections in Mizoram like the Kashmiri Pandits who participated in the May 1996 Parliamentary Elections and September 1996 Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Please refer to the complaint No 40/16/97-98 of the Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Network.

The Asian Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Network appreciates the interventions of the National Human Rights Commission on the plight of the internally displaced Reangs. The NHRC was scheduled to organize a meeting under the Chairmanship of Justice Shri V S Malimath consisting of the Chief Secretaries of Assam , Mizoram and Tripura and the complainants of the case No. 40/16/97-98 on 7- 8 September 1998 and 15- 16 October 1998 . However, on both occasions the meeting had to be cancelled and consequently no solution could be found to alleviate their sufferings.

AITPN shall be grateful if the NHRC could intervene on the following issue pertaining to the fundamental rights of the Reang internally displaced persons.

The right to participate in the government :

There a large number of internally displaced people in India namely the Nagas and Kukis in Manipur, Santhals and Bodos in Assams , Kashmir Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir and Reangs in Tripura state of India in addition to internally displaced people. They have been "forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes and places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State borders" as provided in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement as contained in UN Economic and Social Council document E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2.

Among these internally displaced persons, only the Reangs and Kashmiri pandits were forced to seek refuge in other States of India.

The Mizoram state is scheduled to hold Assembly Elections on 25 November 1998 . The interested candidates have already filed their nominations. However, no decision has so far been taken whether the internally displaced Reangs will be able to cast their votes. The Election Commission of India, the Union Home Ministry and the State Government of India have maintained a studied silence on the voting rights of the Reang refugees. The Election Commission of India termed the situation as “unusual ". Hence, interested Reang candidates could not file their nominations by 6 November 1998 .

AITPN does not consider the situation of the Reangs as "unusual". The Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provides the guidelines on the right to vote and participation in government.

Article 62 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 states: 

"62. Right to vote . - (1) No person who is not, and except as expressly provided by the Act, every person who is, for the time being entered in the electoral roll of any constituency shall be entitled to vote in that constituency.

 (2) No person shall vote at an election in any constituency if he is subject to any of the disqualifications referred to in section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950).

 (3) No person shall vote at a general election in the same constituency of the same class, and if a person votes in more than one such constituency, his votes in all such constituencies shall be void.

 (4) No person shall at any election vote in the same constituency more than once, not withstanding that his name may have been registered in the electoral roll for the constituency more than once, and if he does so vote, all his votes in that constituency shall be void.

 (5) No person shall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, or is in the lawful custody of the police: 

Provided that nothing in this subsection shall apply to a person subjected to preventive detention under any law for the time being in force".

 Article 60 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 states: 

"60. Special Procedure for voting by certain classes of persons. - Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions contained in section 59, provision may be made by rules made under this Act for enabling, - 

(a) any of the following persons to give his vote by postal ballot, and not in other manner, at an election in a constituency where a poll is taken, namely: 

(i) any person to whom the provisions of sub-section (3) of section 20 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950) apply; 

(ii) any person subjected to preventive detention under any law for the time being in force to give his vote by postal ballot, and not in any other manner, at an election in a constituency where a poll is taken, subject to the fulfillment of such requirements as may be specified in those rules."

The underlying intent of the Article 60 of the Representation of People Act, 1951 is the equality before law as provided in the Article 14 of Indian Constitution and Article 2 of the ICCPR. Even those who are held in preventive detention meaning that until the person is proven guilty, he/she has the right to vote.

Article 25 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides:

"Article 25:

Every citizen shall have the right the right and opportunity, without any of the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions: 

(a)  To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives;   

(b)  To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections, which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors;   

(c)  To have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his country".

The right to participate in the government is not only the right to vote but to be elected. When the Government of India ratified the ICCPR in 1979, it did not express reservation to Article 25 of thee ICCPR. This implies that India has accepted the validity of the Article 25 of the ICCPR in Indian law.

Honourable Chairperson, in the Parliamentary and Assembly elections held in Jammu and Kashmir respectively in May 1996 and in September 1996, the Kashmiri Pandits were allowed to vote by post as given in the Article 60 of the Representation of the People Act of 1951. Please find enclosed excerpts from "The Challenge in Kashmir: Democracy, Self-Determination and a Just Peace" by Sumantro Bose stating that Kashmiri Pandits have exercised their right to vote as Annexure I. However, the Kashmiri Samiti, an organization of the internally displaced Kashmiris alleged that all the internally displaced Kashmiri Pandits could not cast their votes thereby raising the efficacy of the postal ballot.

The Reangs fled from Mizoram due to "well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of their membership to a particular ethnic group, different language and different religion". The NHRC should take into consideration that 50,000 Reangs would not have left their hearts and homes unless there is genuine lack of their security.

In conclusion, Honourable Chairperson, both national law and international law provide the right to participation in the government. A precedence had already been set by allowing the Kashmiri pandits to cast their postal ballot. In order to ensure equality before law and that the Reangs could cast their votes, I shall be grateful if the NHRC could issue the following directions without seeking explanations from the concerned authorities to this complaint:

1.Direct the Election Commission of India to postpone the Mizoram Assembly Elections to allow the interested Reang candidates to file their nominations to participate in the Government as provided in the Representation of the People Act 1950 and the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the ICCPR;

2.That the NHRC should approach the Supreme Court if necessary to enforce postponement of Assembly Elections in Mizoram to ensure the right to participate in the government;

         3. Direct the Union Home Ministry, State Government of Mizoram and Election Commission of India to take all the measures to ensure that the Reangs from Mizoram could freely cast their votes in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Mizoram;

         4. Direct the Union Home Minister State Government of Mizoram and the Election Commission of India to ensure that polling booths are opened in the camps of the Reangs internally displaced persons in Tripura in view of the allegations of the Kashmiri pandits that all of them were not allowed to cast their votes;

With respectful regards,

Yours sincerely

Suhas Chakma
Coordinator