LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Imphal, March 7: With the approval of one more polling booth by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday, re-polling will be held at 7 booths in 5 assembly seats under Manipur’s 3 electoral districts on March 8, officials said.
The assembly seats where re-polling will be held are Wangjing Tentha seat in Thoubal district, Ukhrul and Chingai seats in Ukhrul district and Karong and Tadubi seats in Senapati district.
The polling will be held from 7 am to 4 pm.
The re-polling is scheduled for Wangjing Hodamba booth in Wangjing Tentha seat, Ukhrul (E-2) in Ukhrul, Ngamju in Karong, Kalhang and Peh(B) in Chingai and Yangkhullen (A) and Mao Marafil in Tadubi.
“One of the main reasons for consideration of re-polling was connected to damage of EVMs (electronic voting machines) by miscreants during and after the poll,” said chief electoral officer, Manipur, Rajesh Agrawal, in a press release on Monday afternoon.
“These kinds of incidents lead to major discomfort to the electors of the polling station as their right to franchise gets infringed on the poll day and they will now need to come out again to exercise their rightful franchise on the day of re-poll,” he said.
On Sunday, the Congress candidates in Wangkhem, Wangjing-Tentha and Tengnoupal seats demanded re-polling at their respective assembly constituencies.
Alleging that there were massive malpractices during the polling day of the second phase Manipur assembly elections on March 5, Congress candidate M Hemanta Singh of Wangjing-Tentha seat and his supporters submitted a memorandum to the office of district election officer, Thoubal, demanding re-poll at nine polling booths (34/9 to 34/17) under Wangjing-Tentha seat.
Hemanta, a former minister, also urged the election authority not to announce the election results unless the footage of the webcasting facilities were checked.
Similarly, Congress candidate Morung Makung of Tengnoupal seat in Chandel district also demanded re-polling in Tengnoupal seat. The supporters of Naga People’s Front candidate from Chandel seat also demanded re-polling.
Congress MLA and candidate from the Wangkhem seat, K Meghachandra Singh also submitted a written complaint to the chief electoral officer (CEO) Manipur on Sunday demanding re-polling at four polling booths (32/7 to 32/10).
Earlier, BJP urged the CEO Manipur to order re-polling in Wangjing Tentha seat, alleging that there was extensive proxy voting in some polling booths. A joint complaint was also lodged in this regard.
The first phase of 12th Manipur assembly elections was held on February 28 at 38 assembly seats while the second and final phase was held on March 5 at the remaining 22 assembly seats. The counting of votes will take place on March 10, along with 4 other states- Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Uttar Pradesh, where assembly polls were held.
The BJP leaders are expecting 40-plus seats out of the state’s total 60 assembly seats to form its government while the Congress leaders are confident of getting an absolute majority.
In 2017, the BJP came second by winning 21 seats, but was able to upset the Congress, which won 28 seats, and formed a government with support of National People’s Party, Naga People’s Front and others.
