Firing, EVMs destruction & boycott call — violence mars Lok Sabha elections in conflict-hit Manipur

Guwahati: Firing by armed miscreants outside two polling stations in Meitei-dominated Imphal valley, damage of EVMs by angry voters and poll-boycott by a Kuki organisation marred poling on Friday for the two Lok Sabha constituencies in Manipur, which has remained roiled by ethnic violence since May last year.

Pradeep Kumar Jha, Chief Electoral Officer Manipur told DH at around 8 PM that one person was injured in firing in Imphal East district but none was injured in another firing outside a polling station near Moirang in Bishnupur, another Meitei-dominated district.

A video shared by officials in Imphal showed scuffle between security forces and voters in a polling station in Ward number 7 in Imphal, where armed miscreants reportedly threatened voters. Some EVMs were allegedly damaged by voters. 

Another video showed Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, the JNU-teacher-turned Congress candidate in Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat, engaging in a heated argument with a security official at Kyamgei Heibong Makhong High School in Imphal East.

Akoijam alleged that the security forces failed to maintain law and order when armed miscreants forcefully removed Congress poll agents from the polling station in the morning.

A video grab of Congress candidate and security personnel get into a spat in Manipur's Keirao during 1st phase of Lok Sabha polls in Manipur on Friday

Akoijam is pitted against five other candidates including Basanta Kumar Singh of BJP and Maheswar Thaunaojam of Republican Party of India (Athawale) in the Meitei-dominated Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat. BJP's Raj Kumar Ranjan Singh, the Union Minister of state for external affairs, was elected from the seat in 2019 polls.

The Opposition Congress lodged several complaints alleging booth capturing and rigging by armed miscreants during the polling. The party demanded re-polling in several booths in both the constituencies.

Jha said, 72.17 per cent polling was reported in both the constituencies, 76.05 per cent in Inner Manipur and 65.22 per cent in Outer Manipur. 

Poll Boycott

Many polling stations in Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district wore a deserted look in view of a call by Committee on Tribal Unity, an influential Kuki organisation to abstain from voting. The turnout in Churachandpur, another Kuki-dominated district, where Kuki organisations asked voters not to vote for ruling BJP and its allies, was also low.

Polling in 15 Assembly segments in Outer Manipur seat was conducted on Friday and same in the remaining segments (Naga-dominated) will be conducted in the second phase on April 26. 

Conflict-hit Voters Give Polls A Miss 

Many voters, who had shifted to other states due to the conflict in Manipur, however, could not cast their votes.

The EC opened 85 special polling stations for over 18,000 internally displaced voters living in relief camps but no steps were taken for those who fled Manipur and were staying outside.

Bronte Kshetrimayum, a young Meitei voter from Imphal, who shifted to Pune in Maharashtra following the violence in May last year, is one such voter.

Bronte used to run a start up in Imphal but later joined a BPO in Pune to support his family following the violence. "I decided not to cast my vote as the situation in Manipur is still not conducive. I am really worried about my parents who live in Imphal," he told DH on Friday, adding that, "Also the travel cost is also very high now."

The Supreme Court on April 15 rejected a petition that sought arrangement for over 18,000 such voters from Manipur to cast their votes in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Guwahati, Shillong and some other places saying that it was too late to issue an order to the EC to make special arrangements.