IMPHAL, April 9: BJP Manipur has strongly condemned the central and the state government for not able to protect the right to vote of the people when NSCN (IM) and Kuki outfits under SoO made the public vote under harness in 57 polling stations on Wednesday during the first phase of the 16th Lok Sabha elections in Manipur.
Demanding re-election at the earliest in those polling stations in which many were deprived of their adult franchise, BJP candidate of the outer Lok Sabha seat, Prof Gangmumei Kamei while briefing the media at a press conference in the BJP office on Wednesday evening, said that cadres of the aforementioned outfits compelled voters in many polling stations to vote as per their bidding.
NSCN (IM) cadres forced voters to cast their votes for the NPF in 54 polling station of Senapati, Ukhrul, Chandel districts, he said, and lamented that even though the above mentioned stations were classified as hyper-sensitive areas the concerned authorities didn’t take any steps to avoid such incidents.
Manipur BJP president Th Chaoba said that armed cadres of outfits under peace talk with the central government like NSCN (IM) and Kuki outfits who are signatories of SoO agreements with the state government disrupted the election by coercing voters to vote for their candidates of choice.
A written complaint was submitted to the CEO O Nabakishore for re-elections and to take action in this regard, he said.
Elaborating that the even though state forces were deployed but couldn’t handle such incidents, he demanded the central and the state government to clarify at the earliest on how it came to happen and how the cadres came bearing arms when they have reportedly handed away their arms.
According to him, strong-arm tactics were used in 23 polling stations of Chingai (45) A/C, three polling stations of Ukhrul (44) A/C, three polling stations of Senapati District, Karong (47) A/C, one polling station of Tadubi (49) A/C, seven polling stations of Chandel distirct, Chandel (41) A/C and three polling stations of Sadar hills, Saitu (51) A/C.