Credit to ECI/CEO for peaceful first phase polling
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: March 01, 2022 -

CONSIDERING the unprecedented scale of pre-poll violence witnessed, the conduct of first phase of polling to the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly could be described as relatively peaceful, for which officials of the election-conducting authorities and all polling personnel deserved to be commended.

Like in every election, there were the usual incidents of frayed tempers among supporters of rival candidates and complaints related to laying siege to some polling booths.

However, with exception of the booth capturing allegations which ought to be reviewed impartially, office of the Chief Electoral Officer may relish the fact that the voters turned up in large numbers for encouraging the adult franchisees to take part in choosing the lawmakers and preventing violence on the polling day had been its primary objective.

Among others, one of the measures initiated by the CEO in compliance with the ECl's decision is allowing the voters to exercise their right on the basis of furnishing any of the 12 identification documents, unlike in the past when possession of the electoral photo identity card and Aadhaar card used to be mandatory.

In case of misplacement or loss of the two listed documents, one's voting right depended on consent of the candidates' agents.

Thus, the ECI allowing use of MNREGA job card, passbook of bank/post office, health insurance smart card, driving license and PAN card, to name a few of the 12 identification documents has definitely helped all eligible citizens to cast their votes.

Under the ECI, the CEO's teams have also been adopting innovative ideas to make the process voter-friendly, with the stand-out feature being deployment of all-woman polling personnel in specific polling stations.

While toying with idea of increasing the number of model polling stations manned exclusively by women personnel in far-flung hill districts is out of the picture as on date in view of the unfriendly terrain as well as law and order situation, it is worth appreciating that all the 381 polling stations in Singjamei, Yaiskul, Wangkhei and Churachandpur assembly constituencies were operated by women polling teams and the polling process ended without any major hiccups.

Another notable feature of the first phase election is that one polling station in Saikot constituency had only persons with disabilities manning one of the polling stations.

In view of the presence of 39 out of 173 candidates with criminal antecedents in the first phase, the CEO arranging webcasting/videography in all the polling stations and deploying CAPF personnel in sufficient strength will also help criminal elements from suppressing democratic rights of the citizens.

It's an open secret that substantial numbers of voters in the hill areas seldom get the chance to elect their representatives as they generally vote for select candidate under duress.

Nevertheless, it is hoped that the deployment of micro-observers in all critical polling stations would bring the desired change.

The only blemish on the part of the election-conducting authorities was the lack of enthusiasm among the officials at the ground level in enforcing the Covid-19 safety protocols for there were either no circle marking or the voters maintaining physical distance as was announced.

However, such a lapse is ignorable as the state has been witnessing significant decline in the number of Covid-19 positive cases.