Imphal, April 20: Even as all the district headquarters in the hill areas recorded a healthy turn out for the first phase polling of the 14th Lok Sabha election in the Outer seat, the seven Assembly segments falling within Thoubal district and Jiribam AC recorded a poor turn out, due to the ban imposed on the election by the proscribed UNLF.

Imphal city and other valley districts also wore a deserted look.

Stray incidence of violence has been reported from Thoubal district, where unidentified gunmen burnt some vehicles and destroyed polling material of some polling stations.

Overall the turn out has been provisionally fixed at 55 percent.

In the last Lok Sabha election, the turn out in the Outer was recorded at 63.63 pc.

Returning Officer Y Surchandra informed that recommendations for holding repoll at 109 polling stations have come in till 11 pm today.

The rain that lashed the State during the last many days receded today and the sun appeared in all its April glory today, which encouraged the voters to venture out and exercise their franchise rights.

Senapati district : In Senapati the voter turn out was a healthy 60 percent.

Reports of proxy voting in several polling stations have poured in and a team of The Sangai Express which went to this district for an on the spot study of the voting patterns saw proxy voting and booth capturing being resorted to on a large scale.

At Senapati Junior High School, 47/44 (B), though a long queue was seen outside, proxy voting took place on a large scale inside the booth.

At polling station number 14/15 a young tennage girl was seen casting her vote several times over.

In an interesting turn of event it was found that at Katomei LP School, near Senapati dist headquarters, 633 voters had cast their votes in serial number order.

The voters did not get their finger �inked�.

Election observer Parmesh Dutta and Senapati DC T Pamei rushed to the spot and set things right soon thereafter.

Repoll in nine polling stations have been recommended.

The polling stations are 49/33 A and B, 47/43 A and B, 49/32, 49/18 (Maram Khullakpa Sagei A), 49/19 (Maram Khullakpa Sagei B), 49/20 (Maram Makha Khullakpa Sagei A), 49/21 (Maram Makha Khullakpa Sagei B).

In Mao under Senapati district, polling at the 14 polling stations went off without a hitch in absolute peace, said sources.

The voter turn out at Mao was about 95 percent.

In neighbouring Tadubi too, the voting went off peacefully without a single incident.

Kangpokpi under Senapati district and in Sadar Hills recorded an appreciable 91 percent voter turn out.

Repoll has been recommended at 46/19 Chingai Khullen polling station.

The repoll was recommended after the presiding officer reported that the polling was unfair.

Thoubal district: As widely expected, voter turn out at the seven Assembly segments of Thoubal district was extremely low with only 30 percent of the electorates exercising their franchise rights in the backdrop of the boycott call given by the UNLF.

The low turn out of the voters was in no small measure due to the action taken up by seven unidentified men who descended on polling station number 36/19 at Wabagai Higher Secondary School and took away the control unit of the EVM today at about 9.45 am.

At polling station number 38/1 which has 785 voters, not a single voter had turned up to vote till 4 pm today while at polling station number 38/2 which has 554 voters, only 8 voters had cast their votes.

Similarly at polling station number 38/8 Phabakchao LP School, of the 686 voters, only 12 voters came out to exercise their franchise.

Churachandpur district (from Thangkhanlal Ngaihte): The first phase Lok Sabha election in Manipur for the Outer constituency held today passed off without major untoward incidents in the Lamka town area, but it was marred by attempts of booth rigging and capturing in some outlying stations.

In the town area, upto 65% of the votes were cast by 2 pm, a source said.

The stations from where malpractices were reported are 58/ 42 Geljang, 59/42 Ngoiphai, 57/ 35 Kangvai, 59/ 5 Kumbi Pukhri, 59/3 Tollen, 59/25 Tuilaphai and 58/37 Thingkangphai villages.

Reports of rigging were also initially received from some stations in the town area, but inspection by officials failed to find any evidence to substantiate the charge.

No information is available so far from the fur flung areas.

While, re-polling for the Outer are scheduled to be held on April 22, a source said and added that the date may have to be postponed due to numerous problems relating to bad roads and security.

In the Lamka town area, most shops remained closed in the market and all commercial vehicles also stayed off the road in deference to a strike call by the UNLF.

Jiribam AC: Not surprisingly the ban call had the biggest impact on this Assembly segment which is under Imphal East.

Election office sources said the voter turn out was an abysmal 18 percent.

Chandel district: The voter turn out was 60 percent here with no report of any untoward incident.

Ukhrul district: Polling was by and large peaceful and the turn out was a healthy 70 percent, said election office sources.

Tamenglong district: Till the time of filing this report, Tamenglong district had recorded the highest turn out returning figures of 87 percent.

No report of any untoward incident is also received from this district.

At the moment repoll has been recommended in 64 polling stations in Tamenglong district, 20 in Churachandpur district, 10 in Jiribam AC, nine in Senapati and three in Chandel district.

Meanwhile PTI quoted Election Commission spokesman AN Jha as saying that there was large-scale violence in Manipur and there were reports of EVMs being snatched at various places.

Polling parties could not reach on time in 70 polling stations because of inclement weather and landslides.

Jha said that a repolling would have to be held in at least 103 polling stations in the State.