Imphal, January 16: The countdown for the 8th Manipur legislative Assembly elections, scheduled to be held on two phases February 14 and 21, 2002 has started with the chief electoral officer Manipur DS Poonia issuing a formal notification of holding of the polls for the purpose of constituting a new legislative Assembly of the state.

As per the notification, which was published in the Manipur gazette extraordinary, filing of nomination papers for the elections will be allowed till January 23 next.

Scrutiny of the filed nomination will be done on January 24 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature has been fixed as January 28, 2002.The first phase poll for 40 Assembly constituencies in the valley areas, and the second phase poll in 20 constituencies in hill districts will be held on February 14 and February 21 respectively.

Voting will take place from 7 am to 4 pm on the respective days.

February 28 has been fixed as the date before which the entire election exercise shall be completed.

The respective district deputy commissioners, returning officers and assistant returning officers of various Assembly constituencies in the state have also instructed to issue the same election notification in their respective Assembly constituencies.

Meanwhile, official sources said preparations for holding successful polls in the state were in progress.

In the meantime, according to a highly placed source, for the convenience of election process in respect of filing nomination and other activities, some isolated offices of ROs and ARDs in valley districts have been allowed to be shifted to the respective concern district headquarters.

The offices which have been permitted to shift to the concerned district headquarters are SDO office Imphal East II, Imphal West I, Bishnupur II and Thoubal I.on the other hand the state election office has also finalized the electorate roll for the ensuing polls.

For the first phase elections in the 40 constituencies in the valley a total of 8, 88,974 voters, including 4, 61,235 females will be exercising their franchise.

For the second phase, a total number of 5, 82,290 voters, including 2, 92,775 female will be casting their votes in the 20 Assembly constituencies in the hill areas, the official source added.

Altogether 31 election observers are to be deployed in the state for the polls.