Lamphelpat (Manipur):Five districts of Manipur, including, Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur, Churachandpur, and Kangpokpi, will go to polls in the first phase of Assembly elections on Monday. The voting will begin at 7 am and continue till 4 pm. The voters, who are COVID positive or are under quarantine, will be allowed to vote at the last hour, between 3 pm and 4 pm.
As many as 38 constituencies spread across the five districts will decide the fate of 173 candidates, including 15 females, in the fray during the Assembly elections today.
According to Chief Electoral Officer of Manipur Rajesh Agarwal, out of the total candidates, 39 candidates have criminal antecedents. Party-wise, the Bharatiya Janata Party is contesting in 38 constituencies, while 35 are in the fray from the Indian National Congress. Janata Dal (United) is contesting in 28 seats.
"A total of 12,09,439 voters, including 5,80,607 male, 6,28,657 female and 175 transgender voters, will exercise their franchise across 1,721 polling stations. There are a total of 10,041 physically challenged and 251 centenarian voters in these 38 assembly constituencies," Agrawal informed.
Notably, 381 polling stations will be completely manned by all-women polling personnel, while one polling station in Saikot will be manned completely physically challenged polling personnel.
It has also been informed that since the Election Commission of India (ECI) has discontinued Photo Voter Slip as an identity proof, voters shall require to produce one of the 12 identity documents approved by the Commission, including Aadhaar Card, MNREGA Job card, Passbooks with photograph issued by Bank/Post Office, Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour, driving licence, PAN card etc.