IMPHAL, September 26: Five candidates have filed their nomination papers for the upcoming Hiyanglam bye-polls today.
The candidates filed their nomination papers before the Kakching Sub-Divisional Officer Th Chitaranjeet Singh, the returning officer designate of the Hiyanglam bye-polls, between 11 am to 4 pm.
Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam, Works minister Dr Kh Ratankumar along with Congress legislators such as T Mangibabu, K Ranjit and S Bira accompanied the INC candidate E Dwijamani while filing his nomination paper.
Dr Yumnam Radheshyam Singh of the AITC, Mayengbam Amutombi Singh of the MPP, Maibam Dhanabir Singh of the BJP and Yumnam Thambou Singh of the breakaway group of the AITC are the other candidates in the fray.
They submitted their nomination papers at the SDC office in Thoubal.
Talking with media persons at the SDC office before filing the nomination, MPTCC president Th Shyamkumar said the candidate representing the party is someone who has served the people of Hiyanglam for a long time.
The chances of our candidate who was defeated in the last assembly elections by the late Maibam Kunjo by a margin of only 85 votes is high, he adds.
Shyamkumar said that the main agenda of the party in this election are saving the territorial integrity of Manipur, developing education, agriculture and health sectors and implementing the ILP system.
MPTCC supports the demand for implementing ILP in the State, Shyamkumar said, emphasizing that the party wants to tread carefully by examining the pros and cons so as to not contravene any provisions under the Indian Constitution even if it wants to enact a law to regulate the influx of migrants.
Leader of the breakaway MPTCC, Dr I Ibohalbi said there is no confusion in the allotment of the party symbol while requesting the people of Hiyanglam to not get confused as some people are trying to create confusions with regards to the symbol.
Our candidate approved by the AITC is the genuine candidate of the party led by Mamata Banerjee and we hope that we regain the seat with the support of the people of Hiyanglam, he added.
Mayengbam Amutombi, the candidate representing the MPP was accompanied by party president N Sovakiran while filing his nomination paper. Later in the day, Yumnam Thambou contesting the Hiyanglam bye-polls as the candidate of the breakaway AITC group also filed his nomination paper.
It may be recalled that the last date for filing the nomination papers of the Hiyanglam by-polls announced on September 20 is September 27, and the date of scrutiny of the nomination papers is September 29.
The last date of withdrawing candidatures in the Hiyanglam bye-poll, due on October 17 between 7am and 4pm, is October 1. The counting of votes will begin on October 20 and the whole election process will be completed on October 22.