Aizawl: Mizoram chief electoral officer Garima Gupta has been transferred to Delhi during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, according to a ministry of home affairs (MHA) order issued on Thursday. She has served as CEO since May 18Officials said her tenure had ended and she was due for transfer. One official said the Centre will need Election Commission of India (ECI) approval, while another said the MHA likely consulted the ECI before issuing the order.Gupta, a 2004-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, was appointed as Mizoram CEO on May 7 and assumed charge on May 18.Her transfer comes amid a dispute with the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), Mizo apex students’ organisation, which has challenged her claim that there has been no abnormal rise in voter numbers during SIR 2026. The MZP said its analysis of the draft electoral roll shows unusually high growth in several Chakma-majority villages in Mizoram’s southern region.At a news conference on Wednesday, MZP leaders said they found wide disparities in voter growth between Chakma-majority villages and predominantly Mizo villages.According to the organisation, Sumasumy village in Lunglei district, bordering Bangladesh, recorded one of the sharpest increases. The village had only 52 voters in 2005 (the last SIR), but the latest draft electoral roll shows 248 voters, an increase of 376.92%.The MZP claimed that seven villages registered voter growth of more than 200%, while 16 villages saw increases of more than 100% since the 2005 electoral roll. It said it reviewed data from 95 villages and found more than 30 with growth above 50%. By contrast, it said predominantly Mizo villages generally recorded increases of 10% to 20% during the same period.The student leaders alleged the rise was linked to illegal migration from Bangladesh. They also raised concerns about electoral mapping in five Assembly constituencies, claiming the exercise was not conducted properly.
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