Repolling underway in six polling booths in Manipur amid heavy security

Imphal, April 30 (IANS) Repolling at six polling stations in Outer Manipur parliamentary constituency is underway amid tight security on Tuesday, election officials said.

According to election officials, the voting is going on peacefully and around 37 per cent of voters have cast their ballots till 11 a.m.

Manipur Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pradeep Kumar Jha appealed to the voters to cast their votes in large numbers in these six polling stations.

The repolling started at 7 a.m. and would continue till 4 p.m.

The Election Commission on Saturday declared as "void" the Lok Sabha elections held in six polling stations in the Outer Manipur Parliamentary seat and announced fresh polling in these polling stations under three tribal reserve assembly segments - Ukhrul, Chingai and Karong.

Polling was held on April 26 at 848 polling stations in the remaining 13 of the 28 Assembly segments under the Outer Manipur Parliamentary seat, where voting for the 15 other Assembly segments was held in the first phase on April 19 along with the Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat.

Election officials said that various disturbances occurred in these six polling stations on April 26, prompting the poll panel to order fresh polling.

Nearly 82 per cent of around 4.85 lakh voters on April 26 exercised their franchise in the remaining part of the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency, spread across eight hilly districts - Ukhrul, Kamjong, Tamenglong, Noney, Senapati, Jiribam, Pherzawl, and Tengnoupal.