Voting in Outer PC passes off peacefully, poll per cent pegged at 80
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 11 2019: Voting for the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency was held peacefully under tight security today but there is a possibility that repoll might be held for some polling stations.

Starting from 7 in the morning, people from 28 Assembly Constituencies came out in droves to cast their vote.

A total of 8 candidates are in the fray and voting was held from 7 in the morning till 4 in the evening.

It may be mentioned that Angam Karung Kom (NCP), K James (INC), Thangminlen Kipgen (NPP), Lorho S Pfoze (NPF), Benjamin Mate (BJP), Ashang Kasar (NEIDP), Hangkhanpao Taithul (JDU) and Leikhan Kaipu (Independent) are contesting for the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency seat.

According to reports, there were many complaints about malfunctioning of EVMs at various polling stations however timely intervention by election officials made sure that the errors were sorted out and election continued normally.

Voting in Outer PC passes off peacefully, poll per cent pegged at 80

Out of the total 333 polling stations which went to poll today in Churachandpur District, 100 polling stations were entirely manned by women polling personnel while only Persons With Disability (PWD) were utilised as polling personnel in one polling station of Saikot A/C (maintained as Special Polling Station).

Out of the 100 polling stations which were entirely manned by women polling personnel and polling securities, 26 polling stations belonged to Saikot A/C while 74 polling stations belonged to Churachandpur A/C.The polling station which was maintained as Special Polling Station and which was operated only by the PWD was 59/43 - B Vengnom polling station.

Also, one polling station across each six ACs was maintained as model polling station in the same district.

It may be noted that a total of 198 polling stations were entirely manned by women during the election today.

According to Chief Electoral Officer PK Singh, there were some complaints of faulty voting machines but the issue was quickly resolved by election officials who either corrected the machines or replaced them with functioning ones and voting resumed as normal.

Apart from some conveniences/incidents, today's vote was conducted peacefully, the CEO mentioned explaining that the complaints which were received today during voting will be verified after the polling officials return.

He then informed that at around 1.30 pm, five unidentified individuals came and destroyed the EVMs and VVPATs at Polling Station 45/17-Poi (A) and 45-18-Poi (B) under Chingai A/C.As the location is rather remote, it was not possible to replace the machines and as such, a repoll might be held, he added.

More than 80 percent of the people cast their votes during the poll today and it is reported that many people were still in line in front of the polling stations to cast their votes, at the time of filing this report.

Scrutiny for the Polling Stations where repoll might be held, will be done on April 14 and the report will be sent to the ECI which will fix the date of the repoll.

Around 76.16 percent of the population turned out for voting in Thoubal while 87.85 percent turned out in Chandel, 87.31 percent in Ukhrul, 87.99 percent in Senapati, 77.877 percent in Tamenglong, 64.94 percent in Churachandpur, 68.20 percent in Jiribam and 78.87 percent of the population in Kangpokpi turned out to cast their votes today.

The overall poll percentage stood at 80 percent at 9.30 pm today according to the office of the CEO.