Manipur chief electoral officer PK Jha on Friday announced that a total of 94 special polling stations have been identified across the state to facilitate voting by internally displaced persons.
Addressing the media at the CEO electoral office located at Lamphelpat, PK Jha said that there is a large section of the population who got displaced due to conflict in Manipur. So, there are more than 300 relief camps across 10 districts and 24,500 IDP voters have been identified as of today, he said.
He further said that an arrangement has been done for them by distributing ID forms to IDP voters through the district election officers concerned and through which the displaced would be given the choice for a polling station specially created for them where they would be voting, he said.
For internally displaced voters, 94 special polling stations have been created for both Inner and Outer Lok Sabha elections, he said. In the Inner Lok Sabha constituencies, 29 polling stations have been identified and 65 polling stations identified in the Outer seat.
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“There are 24 special polling stations at Kangpokpi district, 22 at Bishnupur district, 15 at Churachandpur district and nine at Imphal East district,” he said.
Among the 94 special polling stations, 85 are meant for the first phase of polling on April 19 and the remaining nine will be in the second phase on April 26, he mentioned.
"We have distributed 17,425 identity forms in relief camps for internally displaced voters. Of them, 9,875 have already been submitted,” he further said, adding that there were no special camps for distributing ID forms.
And also, in 10 districts of Manipur relief camps are located and have created special polling stations, 10 ARO have been designated particularly for IDP voters, he informed.
Responding to a media query on the reported gathering of women at the Chief Minister’s Bungalow, he said that the Model Code of Conduct has come into force, and all the political parties and all the candidates have also been informed about the Dos and don'ts. “Subsequent to the announcement of the election schedule, if we at all receive any complaint from any of the political party or the candidate, then it will be referred to the concerned DEO or the RO for a report on the matter.”
He further said that they have received a complaint from one of the political parties regarding the particular instance. “We have referred it to the DEO and we are waiting for the report. Further action to be taken will depend on it,” he added.
The CEO said that 118 Model polling stations will be set up across the state, of which 91 will be managed only by women. There will be a total of 806 women managed polling stations and 4 polling stations will be exclusively managed by polling personnel belonging to people with disabilities category.
Three general observers, two police observers and four expenditure observers appointed by the ECI have arrived in the state to oversee preparations and conduct of the Lok Sabha election, said PK Jha.
