IMPHAL, April 25: Arrangements are complete for the smooth conduct of elections to the Manipur Outer Lok Sabha seat, encompassing 13 assembly segments, where over 4.7 lakh voters will decide the fate of four candidates on Friday.
In the first phase, 15 assembly segments of Outer Manipur along with 32 assembly segments of Inner Manipur had gone to the polls on April 19.
Candidates in the fray for this phase are Naga People’s Front candidate K Timothy Zimik, Congress’ Alfred Kanngam Arthur and independents S Kho John and Alyson Abonmai. The BJP hasn’t fielded any candidate and is supporting its ally, the NPF.
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Of the 13 assembly segments going to polls, ten are predominantly Naga-inhabited areas.
Senapati district, with the highest number of voters in Outer Manipur (142,843), will see voting across 288 polling stations.
Ukhrul district, predominantly inhabited by the Tangkhul Naga community, has 93,869 voters spread across two assembly segments. The district has set up 141 polling stations and four special booths for internally displaced people.
Jiribam district, bordering Assam’s Silchar and the only non-ST assembly seat in Phase-2, has 30,809 voters and 41 polling stations. Notably, two polling stations, Babukhal and Boroikhal, are accessible only through waterways.
Tengnoupal district, which shares a border with Myanmar and witnessed multiple incidents of conflict last year, has 42,731 voters and 74 polling stations.
Security measures have been heightened across all 13 assembly segments, with around 87 companies of central paramilitary forces and 4,000 state forces personnel deployed to ensure free and fair elections.
Polling personnel, along with election materials, have been dispatched from respective district collector offices since Wednesday.
In the 2019 elections, the NPF emerged victorious, defeating the BJP by a margin of 73,782 votes. (PTI)
