With the announcement of the general election to the 18th Lok Sabha 2024 by the Election Commission, CEO Manipur PK Jha outlined the preparations, including security measures to be taken up in the state in a press conference held in Imphal on Saturday.
He said around 200 companies of paramilitary forces are likely to be deployed in the state for the first and second phases of the election to take care of the law-and-order, he said, adding that additional concerned district magistrates will issue orders for deposition of license arms.
Replying to a query raised by the media on the prevailing law-and-order situation of Manipur and the possession of illegal arms, the CEO said it has been reviewed with concerned authorities.
He informed that according to the Final Photo Electoral Rolls published on January 22, there are 9,80,855 male, 10,47,929 female and 239 transgender electors.
The number of PwD electors stands at 14,152 while the number of 85+ electors is 22,491 and the total number of polling stations is 2,955, he said, adding that the numbers of voters and polling stations might be increased.
Informing that M-3 EVMs, manufactured by Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL), will be used in all the polling stations, he said that the first level checking of machines has been completed.
There are 5,176 Ballot Units; 6,584 Control Units and 5,321 VVPATs available in the state, he added.
For election expenditure monitoring, the CEO informed that as many as 197 Flying Squad teams, 194 Static Surveillance teams, 92 Video Surveillance teams, 60 Video Viewing teams, 60 Accounting teams have been constituted and trained.
Additionally various central as well as state enforcement agencies have been sensitised, he said, adding that candidates are required to open separate bank accounts (at least one day before filing nomination) for the purpose of expenditure related to elections.
Pointing out that a total of 1,058 polling stations have been identified as vulnerable and critical, he said that steps also have been taken to identify history sheeters, trouble mongers and persons causing vulnerability and are bound down under CrPC.
Besides deploying Micro Observers, the critical and vulnerable polling stations will be brought under webcasting or videography, he said, adding that additional CAPF will also be deployed in such polling stations.
