Northeast Desk, 30th April: Election officials reported a voter turnout of 74.57 percent by 3 PM at six polling stations in the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha seat, where repolling was underway on Tuesday. The voting process, which began at 7 am, proceeded smoothly under tight security arrangements, with no untoward incidents reported thus far.
The repolling was necessitated following incidents of damage to Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) by unidentified persons before the completion of voting at four of the six polling stations on April 26. Additionally, EVM malfunctioning was reported at one polling station, while voting could not be completed at another due to “threat and intimidation by unknown miscreants.”
According to a notification issued by the office of Manipur’s chief electoral officer, voting at four polling stations in the Ukhrul assembly segment, and one each in the Chingai assembly seat in Ukhrul and Karong in Senapati, was declared null and void.
Five of the polling stations are located in the Ukhrul district, encompassing a total of 4,156 voters. During the initial polling on April 26, approximately 76.06 percent of the 4.84 lakh voters exercised their franchise across 13 of the 28 assembly segments of the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency.
The voting process for the remaining 15 segments, along with the entire Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat, was conducted in the first phase on April 19.