Manipur: Security beefed up for LS polls in Kamjong district

Imphal: A total of eight companies of security forces are being stationed at Manipur’s Kamjong district bordering Myanmar on the east for free and fair elections in the Outer Manipur Parliamentary constituency reserved for scheduled tribes which will go to the polls on April 26.

Four candidates — one BJP, one Congress, and two Independents are in the battle of ballots for the Outer Manipur LS seat.

Kamjong district with its lone Assembly constituency — 43-Phungyar AC — is to go an election to Lok Sabha seat for the first time separately.

It has 34,907 voters of which 730 are newly enrolled first-time voters, 237 are people with Disabilities (PWD) and 629 are 80 years and above persons.

Over 100 vehicles have been requisitioned for poll-related duties, Rangnamei Rang Peter, District Election Officer (DEO)/Deputy Commissioner Kamjong said.

Concerning the security measures for the implementation of smooth passage of the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha elections, the DEO said that two companies of BSF have already arrived at Kasom Khullen in Kamjong district. In addition to that 15 sections of women security personnel and 6 companies of State Forces have been requested besides the 28 unarmed women and 96 unarmed male security personnel.

The District Election Office has identified five critical and five vulnerable polling stations

The district has 78 polling stations. There will be 14 pink polling stations (polling stations managed entirely by women) and one model polling station at Phungyar Higher Secondary School.

According to the DEO, the first-round training for polling personnel and EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) Randomisation for the Elections, 2024 has been successfully conducted.

The second round of EVM Randomisation and the commissioning of EVMs will be done on April 5, 2024.

He also highlighted the activities of the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) program, under which pamphlets translated into Tangkhul Naga dialects have been distributed.

They had also been appointed the District Icon to have a larger impact.

The DEO added that steps have been taken to enforce the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) to ensure fairness in the ensuing elections.