guwahati at 3am on wednesday the first bus with bru voters on board left the kanchanpur refugee camp in tripura the bus was bound for kanhmun a village on the interstate border located in mizorams mamit district where the bru tribals displaced from their home state for 21 years were to cast their votethe bus that reached kanhmun at 630am was one of 433 vehicles provided by the tripura government to transport the bru voters to their polling stations thousands of brus including mother carrying babies travelled as much as 60 km to exercise their franchisethis is the second time we have set foot in our home state to cast our votes bruno msha general secretary of the mizoram bru displaced peoples forum told toi for the past month msha has been at the forefront of the brus campaign demanding that they be allowed to vote from their refugee camps but that was not to beever since they were displaced the brus have usually voted through postal ballots from their six refugee camps in tripura the 2008 assembly election the 2009 lok sabha election the 2013 assembly and the 2014 lok sabha electionin 2003 the ec had set up polling stations at kanhmun and tuipuibari but very few turned up later they decided to bring ballot boxes to our camps consequently the turnout was high msha said this time because of the pressure from mizo society the ec had no option but hold the polling in kanhmun he addedearlier this month the entire electoral process had come to a nearstandstill over this one issue where the brus would vote a protest by mizo organizations against special provisions being made for bru voters eventually led to the ouster of the former chief electoral officer sb shashank and a decision that the polling would be held on the interstate border both moves were endorsed by the mizo civil society groupsbut not all of the 12014 registered bru voters could make it to kanhmun thousands those who are physically challenged old or pregnant were unable to leave the camps bruno msha general secretary of the mizoram bru displaced peoples forum told toi he added about 300 others were stuck on the way after the vehicle transporting them broke down midway another 700 voters reached the polling stations but minutes after the gates had closed at 3pmbesides the brus had asked for a few provisions keeping in mind the long journey and daylong polling we had started from our camps early in the morning but there was no breakfast lunch was available but we could claim it only after casting our votes msha said adding the queues were longthe turnout of the bru voters at 55 per cent was encouraging but it was higher in 2013 when we could vote from our camps and 80 of the electors turned up this time as well we took the responsibility of exercising our franchise very seriously but the experience could have