Hiyanglam By-poll : 5 candidates in fray
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, September 29 2014 : During the scrutiny of nomination papers for the by-election in Hiyanglam Assembly constituency scheduled for October 17 next, the nomination papers of Y.Thambou who had filed two papers in the name of All India Trinamool Congress Manipur and All India Trinamool Congress Manipur State was rejected.

Nominations of 5 candidates namely Elangbam Dwijamani of INC, Maibam Dhanabir of BJP, Mayengbam Amutombi of MPP, Thokchom Laiba of MSCP and Dr..YRadheshyam of AITC have been accepted for the fray.

Last date of withdrawal of nomination is October 1 .

All the candidates except Mayengbam Amutombi of MPP were present during the scrutiny conducted today by SDO Kakching Th.Charanjit at the conference hall of DC Office, Thoubal.

Even though certain controversies cropped up during screening of nomination papers of Trinamool Congress nominees, the SDO Kakching who is also the Returning Officer of the by-election accepted the nomination of Dr..YRadheshyam as candidate of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) on the basis of the gazette notifications of Election Commission of India and the Government.

Hiyanglam By-poll : 5 candidates in fray

Y.Thambou of Langmeidong Maning Mayai Leikai who filed two separate nomination papers in the name of AITC Manipur and AITC Manipur State will be out of race, as his nomination papers were rejected by the Returning officer on the ground that the said parties (AITC Manipur and AITC Manipur State) are not state, regional or national parties.

According to the Returning Officer Th.Charanjeet Singh, 'in both the nominations filed by Thambou, Form-A is signed by Kh Jiten Singh claiming to be general secretary of the party but the said name is not found in the Election Commission website as office bearer of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC)' .

Meanwhile, the legal advisor of MPTC, advocate Goutam Sharma strongly protested against the rejection of nomination of party candidate Thambou Singh by the RO, pledging he would approach the appropriate forum to seek legal assistance over the matter.

He claimed that the Election Commission of India (ECI) recognised the AITC as a state party of Manipur on October 10, 2012.The ECI also issued an order to use flower and glass as the symbol for the Manipur AITC, he declared.

Altogether 6 candidates had filed their nomination papers for the ensuing by-election which was necessitated by the demise of M.Kunjo of Trinamool Congress.

As many as 24,219 voters including 12,331 women will cast their votes during the by-election at the 34 polling stations of Hiyanglam assembly constituency.

It may be mentioned here that during the last general election held in 2012, Trinamool Congress candidate Maibam Kunjo won the fray by securing 6,574 votes out of 21,099 votes polled, while INC candidate E.Dwijamani and CPI candidate Y.Radheshyam grasped 6,557 and 6,489 votes respectively.