Amidst tight security Manipur ready for poll in two LS seats

Imphal: Manipur is going to polls for its two seats in the 1st phase of the Lok Sabha election today in 47 assembly constituencies in both the Inner and Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituencies.

In the 1st phase, voting will be held in 32 assembly constituencies in the Inner and 15 for the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency. Of the 15 assembly constituencies from the outer, 7 assembly constituencies are from valley districts but fall under Outer Manipur. Remaining 13 assembly constituencies of Outer Manipur will be held in the second phase of voting scheduled for 26th April.

A total of 15, 44,652 voters will cast their votes in the first phase, of which 7, 41,849 voters are male and 8, 02,557 are female. Voting will be conducted in 2107 polling stations, out of which 85 are special polling stations meant for internally displaced persons set up in accordance with ECI's direction. Altogether 6 candidates are contesting for the Inner and 4 candidates for the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency.

Polling parties, Polling Security Personnel, officers, officials and staff involved in the conduct of the election have reached their respective polling stations/booths. Since morning, the polling parties, security personnel and all officials for the Inner Parliamentary Constituencies were dispatched from their respective district headquarters. Polling parties, security personnel and officials for the Outer Parliamentary Constituencies had been dispatched from their district headquarters two days ahead considering the terrain.

The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Manipur Pradeep Kumar Jha has appealed to all the voters to come out today and to vote without fear.  The CEO also said that security arrangements have been made to conduct the first phase of the election in a free and fair manner and to prevent unwanted incidents. Vulnerable areas and polling stations had been mapped and under the direction of ECI, Micro Observers and Videography team had been put in place, he added.