Over 80 pc polling in Manipur’s first phase

IMPHAL: Over 80 per cent polling was recorded in the first phase of elections to the Manipur Assembly on Saturday.

Voting in the 38 constituencies, which went to polls on the day, came to a close at 3 pm, as per the Election Commission (EC) schedule.

The commission said the polling was by and large peaceful, except one incident, in which a candidate, Erenedo, of the People’s Resurgence and Justice Alliance, was allegedly assaulted by some persons.

Although the preliminary reports at 3 pm put the polling figure at 80 per cent, the commission officials said the final figure could be a little higher.

“There were some technical problems in the EVMs, so the polling started a few hours late at some polling stations. There were long queues in these polling stations even after the official time for closing of voting,” the EC officials said.

The police heaved a sigh of relief as voting ended, with no major law and order problem being reported from anywhere. It was widely feared that there could be violence, since there were minor clashes, bomb blasts, gun attacks and torching of at least four vehicles in the pre-election violence.

In all, there were 168 candidates in the fray for Saturday’s polls, out of which seven were women.

Polling took place at 1,643 polling stations in the 38 constituencies.

Altogether 8,408 personnel of the central paramilitary forces were deployed for peaceful conduct of the election.