After observing less enthusiasm in the first phase of polls in some of the North East constituencies, the Election Commission, local administration and political parties in the fray have coordinated for an encouraging second phase of Lok Sabha elections on Friday. Several constituencies in the sensitive areas including Manipur and Tripura will witness polling.
Parts of Manipur saw violence in the first phase of polling on April 19 as miscreants fired at a polling booth in the State causing panic and disturbances. Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were vandalised and coercion and intimidation allegations were leveled. The state has witnessed unrest for the last few months.
A key bridge on National Highway 2 connecting the State capital Imphal and cities in neighbouring Assam and Nagaland was damaged in multiple bomb attacks by insurgents on Wednesday. The sabotage had stranded over 150 trucks on the highway.
The security forces carried out a combing operation in villages near the damaged bridge in the Kuki-Zo-dominated district. In the foothills of neighbouring Sekmai, some 22 km from Kangpokpi, gunfights had been going on between armed groups for the past two days.
The attack on the bridge also comes two days before voting in the remaining seats of Outer Manipur reserved Lok Sabha constituency, amid the nearly one-year-old ethnic violence between the Kuki-Zo tribes and the valley-dominant Meiteis.
Moreover, arms and ammunition were recovered on Wednesday in a joint operation of the Indian Army and Manipur Police in the violence-hit state's Imphal East district.
In Manipur, tensions between the Kuki-Zo tribes and Meiteis have been lingering for 11 months since clashes broke out between the two communities over cataclysmic disagreements on land, resources, political representation, and affirmative action policies.
Meanwhile, all necessary measures have been taken to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections in the Tripura East parliamentary constituency that will go to polls in the second and final phase on Friday.
A total of 13.96 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. Out of them, 7.02 lakh are males, 6.94 lakh are females and 13 are transgenders.
The constituency has 38,245 voters in the age group of 18-19 years, 4,678 service voters, and 8,942 voters above 85 years old. As many as 16,260 Bru voters, settled in different locations, will cast their votes in the parliamentary constituency.
Assam is all set to witness a triangular and a direct contest for the second of the three-phased polls in five constituencies to decide the fate of 61 candidates in the fray on Friday.
