New Delhi: The second phase of assembly elections in Manipur was marred by violence on Saturday, with reports of two people getting killed and many others injured in different parts of the state.
The polling started at 7 am and recorded 76.62 per cent of voting till 5 pm, election officials said, adding that the final polling percentage is likely to increase in view of statistics from some remotely located polling stations which is still awaited.
Chief Electoral Officer of Manipur, Rajesh Agrawal, stated that among the total of 22 constituencies that went to poll on Saturday, Mao assembly constituency recorded the highest polling percentage of 86.78 percent followed Hiyanglam with 86.31 percent. Tamei constituency witnessed the lowest voting percentage of 61.23 percent till 5 pm.
Unidentified armed miscreants shot at one BJP worker at Wangjing Wangkhei area under Wangjing-Tentha constituency on Saturday morning. The victim, identified as one Leimapokpam Amuba Singh (25), later died in the hospital. Police said that Singh sustained three bullet injuries on his belly.
Also read: BJP worker shot dead in Manipur, second phase assembly elections marred by violence
In a separate incident, unknown persons set on fire a house of one Rakesh Naorem at Tentha under Wangjing-Tentha constituency in the intervening night of March 4 and 5. On the other hand, security forces deployed at a polling center under Karong assembly constituency in Senapati district had to resort to firing, leading to the death of one K Longvao, while another person identified as V Saope suffered injuries.
“The polling in entire valley area was peaceful. In hill districts, there were twelve incidents of damage to EVMs by miscreants. FIRs have been registered. The incident under Karong AC, unfortunately, got escalated leading to serious injury to two persons, who were immediately evacuated by chopper to Imphal for treatment. However, one of them sadly succumbed on the way. The other person is under treatment at RIMS Hospital, Imphal,” Agarwal said.
He said that the movement of EVMs was tracked with the help of e-Traccar App which was embedded in the mobile phones of Polling personnel and Sector Officers. Besides, e-Atlas app was used by polling teams which enables polling personnel to report any sort of EVM malfunctioning or any untoward incident happening in the polling station.
He said that polling parties have started returning from their respective polling stations. EVMs are being deposited to the Strong Rooms, where three-tier security systems are also being arranged for guarding the same. Security forces have been keeping strict vigil round the clock at Strong Rooms.
