600 all women polling stations to be set up: CEO
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 17 2022: Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Agrawal has stated that one out of every five polling stations will be manned by women polling personnel in the ensuing State Assembly election.

In a statement, the CEO elaborated that a total of 600 all women polling stations will be set up in Manipur, thereby making the State the first to breach the 20 percent benchmark across the country.

Stating that 13,203 electors have been added to the Electoral Rolls after continuous updation and the final figure stands at 20,48,169, Rajesh Agrawal said that 173 candidates including 15 females will be contesting in the first phase of election on February 28 while another 92 candidates including two females will contest in the second on March 5 .

Altogether four candidates withdrew their candidature while another three have been rejected, it said and added, "The nomination paper in respect of Lunkhopao Haokip, NPP candidate from 42 Chandel AC has been rejected by the Returning Officer under Section 9A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951" .

"A total of 56 candidates out 265 have criminal antecedents," he informed and added that such candidates and their respective political parties must publish Format C1 and Format C2 on three occasions in one of the local newspapers-Sangai Express (English and Manipuri), Poknapham, Manipur Chronicle, Manipur Express, Huiyen Lanpao (Manipuri) and Lamka Post and TV channels-ISTV, Impact TV and TOM TV.

The CEO also directed all the political parties to not release their manifestos during the prohibitory period under Section 126 of the RPA, 1951 (last 48 hours before the close of poll) .

On law and order and confidence building measures, Rajesh Agrawal said that drugs and poppy worth Rs 84.7 crore and Rs 1.475 crore in cash have been seized and with this the total seizure stands at Rs 102 crore.

Further stating that 80.53 percent of arms (18039) have been deposited as against 59.76 percent in 2017 Assembly election, the CEO maintained that 6456 persons have also been 'bound down' .

Adequate number of Central Paramilitary Forces will be deployed, the CEO informed and maintained that CAPF are already deployed and are being used in certain vulnerable areas.

Saying that Traccar application will be used to systematically track the movement of election officials on the day of election, Rajesh Agrawal continued that E-atlas will also be used for mapping information of status of safe arrival of polling officers, voters reporting service, live incident reporting service which will be flagged instantaneously to the Control Room, live EVM/VVPAT malfunction reporting service, live poll close monitoring service.

Continuing that ETPBS for service voters have been dispatched electronically by all ROs, he added that service voters will mark and send the postal ballots to ROs by post and only those postal ballots received before 8 am of March 10 will be taken up for counting.

The CEO further informed that 8711 absentee voters will be exercising their franchise through postal ballot and maintained that polling teams have already started visiting the absentee voters from February 16 onwards.

In terms of Covid management, the CEO said that 54.41 percent of electors are fully vaccinated as of now while 69.44 percent have taken the first dose.

Around 21817 polling personnel are fully vaccinated while 5500 precautionary doses have been administered to polling parties, he added.

Meticulous planning is also in place to ensure no power disruption on the polling days, the CEO added.

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