Imphal: An estimated 69 per cent polling was recorded till 1300 hours this afternoon in the first phase of Manipur Assembly elections to 38 seats. ' Voting is going on in full swing favoured by clear weather. The turnout is rising with the passage of the day as ten per cent was recorded till 0800 hours, 21 per cent till 0900 hours and 43 per cent till 1100 hours, ' according to official sources. There were some reports of violence. Mr Leichombam Erendro, candidate of the PRJA, Thangmeiband, was assaulted by some persons at Thangmeiband.
He was rushed to RIMS for treatment. There were reports of minor scuffle at Khurai, Singjamei and Thongju, which were later brought under control. There were some reports of EVM failures in some polling stations. At 9/6 Thangmeiband voting was delayed for over 40 minutes. At 9/13 evm developed technical snag after three votes were polled. Voters had to wait for over one and half hour to get the EVM replaced. Polling will end at 1500 hours. Today's phase will decide the fate of 168 candidates, including 38 of BJP, 37 of Congress, four of CPI, two of CPI-M and and 14 Independents. Altogether 5,44,050 male voters, 5,75,220 female, 5169 male service voters and 1915 female service voters are expected to exercise their franchise at 1643 polling stations spread across the 38 polling segments.
Key political players in this are Chief Minister's nephew Okhram Henry, Speaker Th Lokeswar Singh, Ministers I Hemochandra Singh, Govindas Konthoujam, Kh Ratankumar Singh and T Manga Vaiphei, Manipur PCC President T N Haokip, former ministers Phungzathang Tonsing, and Y Erabot Singh and BJP leader Th Chaoba Singh. About 250 companies are being used for security in the polling stations. Most of the stations are having five unarmed officials. For the second phase on March 08, altogether 98 candidates are in the fray in 22 constituencies. Eds : Pls pick up suitably from earlier series. (UNI)
