YCM urges peaceful March 5 polls
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, March 02 2022: The Youth Collective Manipur (YCM) has urged all stakeholders to take up necessary precautions so as to prevent violent activities in the second phase of State Assembly election on March 5 .

A press release issued by YCM stated that Manipur witnessed a remarkable voter turnout in the first phase of election on February 28 .

Unfortunately, violence such as gunfire, blank firing by security personnel to disperse attempted booth capture, proxy voting and aggression among party workers were reported from many polling stations in the first phase of causing much public dismay, YCM added.

Claiming that certain armed groups voted on behalf of entire village in certain polling stations and there were also instances of voters finding their votes already cast when they went to vote, YCM continued that one victimised voter was finally allowed to cast his vote after his protest against proxy voting went viral on social media.

There were also reports of agents Opposition parties prevented at some polling booths, it claimed and continued that several polling booths allegedly conducted voting in the presence of only agents of one party.

YCM continued that a dramatic case in Saitu AC was the arrest of a Congress candidate who was later released on bail.

It continued that EVM-VVPAT malfunctioning was reportedly widespread and the same was damaged in seven polling stations by miscreants.

Among the 10 ACs with highest voter turnout, nine ACs had 19 crorepatis, while one is constituted of a community that was intimidated by a militant group to vote for a particular political party, it added.

It further stated that the death of two polling officials has highlighted the need for safety concern and as such the matter must be dealt with utmost urgency to avoid such grave incidents in the second phase on March 5 .

Claiming that long queues were common in majority of the polling stations, YCM urged the authorities concerned to do the needful so that every voter can cast their votes in the second phase.

Vote buying was reported to be rampant on the day of election as well, it claimed and added that Covid protocols were also not enforced properly in most of the polling stations.

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