Firing, threat to voters mar polls
GUWAHATI: Incidents of shooting, intimidation, damages to electronic voting machines (EVMs) and alleged irregularities in the polling process marred voting for the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections in violence-hit Manipur on Friday, officials said.
Polling was held in Inner Manipur parliamentary seat and some areas of Outer Manipur (Scheduled Tribe) seat, which saw an overall turnout of 70.52%, according to data provided by Election Commission. The remaining areas of the second seat will vote during the second phase, on April 26.
According to a polling official, one person was injured after unidentified men allegedly fired several rounds in the air near a polling
booth in Khurai assembly seat in Imphal East in Inner Manipur Lok Sabha constituency.
“There were also reports of violence, including between two groups in Bishnupur in Inner Manipur seat. We received complaints about intimidation and damages to EVMs at a few polling stations. Unknown men also fired several rounds in the air,” chief electoral officer Pradeep Kumar Jha said. A second polling official said firing was reported near a polling booth at Thamanpokpi in Bishnupur. While reports suggested three people were injured, police and election officials are yet to confirm the same.
The incident was reported even as 162 companies of central forces, besides state forces, were deployed in the northeastern state, which has been reeling under the conflict of ethnic violence since May last year.
Polling booths in Kangpokpi district in Inner Manipur wore a deserted look due to a call to boycott the elections by the Committee on Tribal Unity, a Kuki organisation, the second official said.