Amid sporadic incidents of violence at several polling stations, a voter turnout of 78.03 per cent was recorded till 5 pm for the first phase of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly elections, said Chief Election Officer (CEO) Manipur, Rajesh Agrawal.
The first phase of the Manipur elections began at 7 am Monday across 38 constituencies in five districts - Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur, Kangpokpi and Chandel, amid high tension and tight security arrangements.
Imphal East reported a voter turnout of 76.64 per cent, Imphal West - 82.19 per cent, Bishnupur - 73.44 per cent, Kangpokpi - 82.97 per cent and Churachandpur - 74 per cent till 5 pm.
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Of the total 38 constituencies, Konthoujam AC remained at the top with highest polling percentage 90.10 per cent, followed by Patsoi (90 per cent) and Wangoi AC (88.06 per cent), while Tipaimukh (63.61 per cent), Saikot (68.5 per cent) constituencies have witnessed the lowest voting percentage. The final voting percentage will be notified after the arrival of all polling personnel. It has been reported that voting allegedly continued till late in the evening.
The CEO in a statement released in the evening said EVMs were vandalised by miscreants at seven polling stations across Kangpokpi and Churachandpur districts which have been marked as ‘hypersensitive.’
The seven polling stations are 46/54 -Leplen under Saikul assembly constituency; 51/46-New Keithelmanbi under Saitu assembly constituency; 56/10-Maite and 56/19-Tinsuong under Thanlon assembly constituency; 57/49 - Leinom under Henglep assembly constituency; 60/10-MT Geltam and 60/43-Maukot under Singhat assembly constituency. FIRs have been registered in all these cases, CEO stated in the release.
However, it informed that the polling for 60/10-MT Geltam under Singhat and 46/54- Leplen under Saikul constituency resumed after replacement of new sets of machines.
The decision of re-poll, if any, will be taken on March 1 after the scrutiny of Form 17 A and other documents (complaints by candidates and political parties) by the returning officers in presence of general observers, the release mentioned.
The CEO also expressed his condolences over the demise of a polling personnel and one police personnel who were detailed for duty at polling station 55/1 Chingmun under Tipaimukh assembly constituency and 55/37 Senvon (C) Tipaimukh assembly constituency.
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The polling personnel died of BP stroke while the MR havildar is suspected to have died by accidental firing from his service weapon, it added.
As many as 173 candidates, including 15 female candidates, were in the fray in the first phase of the polls. In all, 12,09,439 total voters, including 5,80,607 males, 6,28,657 females and 175 transgender were expected to exercise their franchise across 1,721 polling stations in the first phase.
