Langthabal Assembly Constituency of the Manipur Legislative Assembly is likely to witness high voter turnout in the ensuing state election 2022, official sources said.
“The constituency had witnessed a voter turnout of 90.53 per cent in the 2017 election and expects a higher voter turnout of over 90 per cent in the ensuing 2022 election,” Lamgthabal returning officer Scindia Laipubam said.
Appealing to the people of the constituency to exercise their adult franchise without any violence and ensure a free, fair and peaceful election, she said all necessary preparations for the ensuing elections is being undertaken in the constituency with the support from officials and staff involved to facilitate full participation of the electors in the voting process.
Candidates in Fray
Four candidates - Indian National Congress candidate Okram Joy Singh, National People’s Party candidate Karam Nabakishor Singh, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Karam Shyam and independent candidate Hijam Somarendro Singh are in the fray in Langthabal AC for the election.
Polling Stations
RO Scindia said 20-Langthabal AC has 40 polling stations which is divided into four sectors, with a total of 160 polling officials to be utilized in the voting process. The 20/32-Haoreibi Awang Upper Primary School with 1082 electors has the highest number of electors and 20/25-Langthabal Khaobum Primary School with 396 electors has the lowest.
Two Polling Stations 20/28-Lilong Higher Secondary School (E/W) and 20/29-Lilong Higher Secondary School (W/W) have been identified in the constituency as Model cum Women Polling Stations, she said.
Number of voters
Scindia also said that the constituency has 28,128 electors of which, 14,823 are female and 13,301 are male electors. The constituency also has four transgender electors, 475 above 80 years, four above 100 and 242 PwD electors. Altogether, 249 electors who opted for the Postal Ballot (12D) for Absentee Voters have been found eligible.
Election History
In the first Manipur Legislative Assembly Elections, 1972, Irengbam Tompok of the MPP defeated Indian National Congress candidate Pukhrambam Horendro Singh, to represent the then 13-Lilong Chajing Assembly Constituency.
20-Langthabal Assembly Constituency, formed after the 1972 Assembly Elections following delimitation, has been represented seven times by Okram Joy Singh in the Manipur Legislative Assembly, winning four straight Assembly elections from 1974 to 1990 and another three consecutive elections from 2000 to 2007.
Okram Joy Singh defeated Independent candidate Pukhrambam Horendra Singh in the 1974 elections, INC (U)’s Karam Babudhon in 1980, INC candidate RK Bimol in 1984, and Babudhon of INC in 1990 again. Okram Joy contested the 1974, 1984 and 1990 as MPP candidate and the 1980 election on a Janata Party ticket.
Babudhon handed Okram Joy Singh his first defeat in the 6th Manipur Legislative Assembly Elections, 1995. Okram Joy won three consecutive terms in 2000, 2002 and 2007.
In both the 2000 and 2002 elections, MPP’s Okram Joy defeated Manipur State Congress Party candidate Babudhon. In the 9th Manipur Assembly Elections, 2007, Okram Joy defeated
Nationalist Congress Party’s Rebika Naorem had represented the constituency for the seventh term in the State Assembly.
The seasoned politician, however, suffered defeat twice in the hands of Karam Shyam in the 2012 and 2017 elections. Joy contested the 2012 election as the MPP candidate and the 11th Manipur Legislative Assembly Elections, 2017 election as the BJP candidate. Karam Shyam contested both the elections as Lok Janshakti Party candidate. (DIPR)
