Aizawl, Nov 16 : Notwithstanding a plethora of appeals by Mizoram political parties, civil society organisations and church denominations, the Election Commission of India has decided not to defer the date for counting of votes for the state Assembly election, state Chief Electoral Officer Madhup Vyas said on Thursday.

Vyas, who returned to Mizoram on Wednesday from Delhi after having discussions with the Election Commission, said, “We have the counting on Dec 3, as per the schedule announced by ECI.”

Earlier, the CEO expressed optimism that the central poll panel may change the date for counting of votes when the NGO Coordination Committee, an umbrella organisation of civil societies and student bodies, met him.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the office bearers of the central committee of the Young Mizo Association (YMA), the apex Mizo body, held on Thursday decided to pursue the matter after holding wider consultations with the NGO Coordination Committee.

The Leader of the YMA said the further course of action will be decided so as to press for a change of date for the counting of votes after consulting all the stakeholders. Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitute Committee (MKHC), conglomerate of major church leaders in the state, which had submitted several appeals to the ECI, had said that the church leaders left future course of action (if any) on the issue to the NGO Coordination Committee.

All the political parties including the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) and the BJP had written to the ECI to defer the date of counting of votes for Mizoram as December 3 falls on Sunday, the sacred and holy day for the high majority of Christians in the Christian-dominated state.

The NGOCC, MHKC and the Mizoram People’s Forum (MPF), a church-sponsored election watchdog, also made several pleas to the ECI to change the counting day to December 4 or 5.