Northeast Desk, 30th April: As repolling commenced at six polling stations in the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha seat, election officials reported a voter turnout of 16.68 per cent by 9 am. The repolling was necessitated following incidents of EVM and VVPAT damage, as well as malfunctioning reported during the previous polling on April 26.
No untoward incidents have been reported thus far, with voting underway since 7 am under tight security arrangements.
The need for repolling arose after unidentified individuals damaged EVMs and VVPATs at four of the six polling stations during the previous voting process. Additionally, EVM malfunctioning occurred at one polling station, while voting could not be completed at another due to threats and intimidation by unknown miscreants.
A notification issued by the office of Manipur’s chief electoral officer had declared the voting at four polling stations in the Ukhrul assembly segment, and one each in the Chingai assembly seat in Ukhrul and Karong in Senapati null and void.
Of the six polling stations, five are located in the Ukhrul district and collectively cater to 4,156 voters.
During the previous polling on April 26, approximately 76.06 per cent of the 4.84 lakh voters exercised their franchise across 13 of the 28 assembly segments in the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency. The remaining 15 segments, along with the entire Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat, had undergone polling in the first phase on April 19.
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