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Voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha concluded in Manipur as 13 of the Assembly segments in the State’s Outer Manipur constituency cast their votes in the second phase of polling on Friday, amidst sporadic complaints of disturbances reported at polling stations of Ukhrul and Senapati districts.
While the final turnout numbers are yet to be compiled, electoral officials in the State told The Hindu that the Assembly segments that voted on Friday recorded a turnout of around 76% as of 5 p.m.
“These areas have polling stations in very remote areas so the polling parties’ return will take time. Once all of them return, we can have final turnout numbers,” Chief Electoral Officer of Manipur, Pradeep Kumar Jha, said.
Mr. Jha said that an Electronic Voting Machine was damaged in at least one polling station of the Ukhrul district, where a prescribed examination process by the concerned officials will determine the need for a re-poll.
Sources, however, added that four more polling stations in Ukhrul saw “disturbances” that might have vitiated the polling process there. They also reported complaints of some people entering the Oinam Hill polling stations in Senapati district, where attempts were made to damage EVMs.
“Three of the four polling stations in Oinam Hill were examined and it was found that results were retrievable. The fourth polling station of that location is being examined,” one source said.
Poll officials, however, added that voting in Outer Manipur constituency had been relatively more peaceful compared to the 2019 election, when re-polling had to be ordered for 19 polling stations.
On Friday, several videos and photos emerged on social media, showing polling stations in Ukhrul vandalised. Some of the pictures showed what appeared to be VVPAT slips strewn across the floor of a polling station with the EVM enclosure of the Election Commission lying on the ground.
In a video that was also posted on X (formerly Twitter) by Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications, Jairam Ramesh, it could be seen that some people were appearing to intimidate voters at an Ukhrul polling station to vote for a particular party in the presence of security personnel.
In the accompanying post, Mr. Ramesh alleged that the voters were being pressured to vote for the Naga People’s Front (NPF) candidate Kachui Timothy Zimik, with whom the Bharatiya Janata Party in Manipur has allied for this Lok Sabha election, choosing not to field its own candidate on Outer Manipur.
“The security forces are standing there mutely as our democracy is hijacked. These are the most important elections of our lifetime,” Mr. Ramesh said in his post.
The Election Commission of India conducted the polls this year in Manipur in the shadow of the ethnic conflict that has been underway in the State since May 3 between the valley-based Meitei people and the hills-based Scheduled Tribe Kuki-Zo people.
At least 220 people have been killed in the conflict so far, with thousands others injured, and tens of thousands of people internally displaced and living in relief camps across the State.
The ECI had decided to conduct polling in the State’s two constituencies in two phases, with Inner Manipur and parts of Outer Manipur dominated by the Kuki-Zo tribes, voting on April 19 and the rest of Outer Manipur, dominated by Naga tribes, voting on Friday (April 26). Given the conflict, contesting parties had muted their campaigns significantly.
When the first phase of voting was under way in the State on April 19, poll officials, voters, and polling agents of the Opposition Congress had reported widespread booth-capturing in Inner and Outer Manipur areas. Several videos showed armed men roaming around polling stations in the presence of security personnel and even firing their weapons, and intimidating voters.
As a result, the Election Commission of India had decided to conduct a re-polling at 11 polling stations of the Inner Manipur constituency on April 22.
