EC orders re-polling in 11 Manipur booths tomorrow
The booths are located in ve Assembly segments of Inner Manipur; presiding o cers reported incidents of mob violence, gun re and EVMs destroyed during the election on Friday
The Election Commission of India has declared void the polling conducted at 11 booths across ve Assembly segments in Inner Manipur on Friday, with presiding o cers reporting mob violence, gun re and destroyed Electronic Voting Machines in some booths.
The ECI has announced that a re-poll will be conducted at these booths between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. on April 22, the Chief Electoral O cer (CEO) of Manipur said in a statement on Saturday night.
These 11 polling stations are located in the Khurai, Thongju, Uripok, Konthoujam, and Kshetrigao Assembly constituencies, the O ce of the CEO added.
On Friday, the O ce of the CEO had written to the Election Commission (EC), pointing out that at least six of these polling stations saw instances of mob violence, riots, and unidenti ed men casting votes on behalf of voters on Friday. Because of these incidents, the polling in these booths had been vitiated to a point that results from there cannot be ascertained.
Reports were submitted by the presiding o cers of these polling stations, including the one at Moirangkampu Sejab Primary School in Imphal, where a re-poll has been recommended due to “mob violence”. On the night of April 19, the Manipur Police said it had arrested three people near the school after an exchange of gun re that had injured at least one person.
Poll o cials in Manipur also reported that a group of unidenti ed persons had entered the polling station at Khaidem Makha, also in Imphal, and cast 61 votes without following due procedure. Mob violence followed the incident, but security forces rescued the electronic voting machines there.
However, in three polling stations at the Iroisemba Upper Primary School, EVMs were destroyed in mob violence as members of the public “overpowered the security personnel”. The presiding o cers’ reports added that in another polling station in Imphal’s Khongman Zone, a re-poll has been recommended “due to riots”.