Civil society in Mizoram comes up with initiative to avoid long queues during polls

A civil society at Project Veng locality in Kolasib town near here have claimed that they managed to avoid long queues, which causes inconvenience to voters, during the Mizoram Assembly elections on November 28. The exercise, called 'Zero-Waiting' or 'Queue-less', was a grand success due to the coordinated efforts of the voters, the vice president of the local branch of the Young Mizo Association (YMA), Lalthlana Ngente, said. 

The exercise was carried out at the Project Veng locality polling booth near Mizoram-Assam border, Ngente said. The YMA had sought permission from the election department about the programme and got a green signal, Ngente added. The YMA leaders divided all 966 registered voters into groups of 60 people in accordance with the enrolment in the voters' list, Ngente said, adding that each group was allotted half an hour as voting time. 

The group of voters were notified through public address system and they were asked to reach the polling station at least 15 minutes before their allotted polling time started, Ngente explained. The voters did not have to stand in queues, the YMA leader said. 

Therefore no political party workers could approach them and give them money to purchase their votes, Ngente said. Over 80 per cent of the voters in the polling station exercised their franchise and the voting process was over by 3 pm, the YMA leader added.

(With inputs from agencies.)