Local body polls end peacefully
Source: The Sangai Express / NNN

Imphal, January 11 2016: Polls to eighteen Municipal Councils and eight Nagar Panchayats in the four valley districts of Manipur were held peacefully under tight security today.

The polling started from 8 am and concluded at 4 pm.

The polls were conducted to elect a total of 685 Councillors and 1042 Ward Deve- lopment Committee (WDC) Members from the four districts.

Voters lined up at polling stations to exercise their franchise since early morning.

Nine Councillors and 162 WDC members had already been declared elected uncontested.

The INC put up 199 candidates, BJP fielded 181 and 16 by the CPI.

280 independent candidates are also in the fray.

The election witnessed a neck to neck contest between the ruling Congress and the state BJP.

Counting of votes will be held on January 15 .

Bishnupur registered 81.13 turnout during the polling held in six Municipal Councils and one Nagar Panchayat.

Only women personnel were deployed for poll duty at two polling stations�10/1 Nam-bol Collegiate High School (89.45 pc) and 10/2 Nari Kalayan Vidyalaya (89.62) in Bishnupur's Nambol.

Local body polls end peacefully

INC and BJP workers caught up in a scuffle at two polling stations of Imphal East's Jiribam subdivision.

A scuffle was reported from polling booths 7/1 and 7/2 in Jiribam's Babupara, officials said.

Police intervened in the confrontation on time and the polling process at the 20 booths continued till 4 pm.

The election was held in the subdivision to elect 10 Councillors and 20 Ward members.

INC fielded 10 candidates and BJP seven.

10 independent candidates are also in the race in Jiribam.

The local body elections, which witnessed a close fight between the ruling Congress and the state BJP, were held after the Indian National Congress (INC) suffered defeat in the hands of the BJP in the recent by-poll held in Imphal's two constituencies of Thangmeiband and Thongju, ensuring the saffron party to open its account in the 60-member state assembly.

Victory for the BJP in the local body elections is expected to be a major shot in the arm.

This election has also been considered vital to the state BJP in view of the upcoming state assembly elections to be held next year.

Over 77.84 percent polling was recorded till 4 pm in Jiribam sub-division for the Jiribam Municipal Council election today.

Altogether, 3822 voters (77.84%) exercised their franchise in Municipal Council election.

Twenty polling booths were set up at different areas of the sub-division for the election.

The sub-division has about 4910 voters (2369 male and 2541 female) out of which 3822 cast their votes.

The ballot boxes from the 20 polling booths have been transferred to the strong room at the ADC Office after the polling with tight security, reports our Jiribam correspodent.

Meanwhile, BJP Manipur Pradesh general secretary M Ashnikumar has thanked the people for peaceful participation in the Municipal and Nagar Panchayat polls.

Speaking to reporters, Ashnikumar said that BJP is likely to win majority in 10 Municipal Councils and eight Nagar Panchayats.

Claiming that Congress which has ruled the State for 14 years could not harm BJP with its money and muscle power this time, Ashnikumar expressed hope that the local bodies election would definitely bring a new change in the electoral politics of the State.

With today's progress, BJP is confident to form a transparent and efficient Government after 2017 State Assembly election, he said.