Stiff contest between Congress and Trinamul candidates
Imphal, Feb. 15 : The byelection in Manipur’s Konthoujam constituency today was one of the most peaceful polls in recent times, with no reports of any trouble coming in from the 28 “sensitive” polling stations.
By noon, the turnout was 40 per cent and over 80 per cent (provisional, the figure may go up) of the 24,476 voters cast their votes. The polling started at 7am and concluded at 3pm.
“The polling was very peaceful and there was no trouble in any part of the constituency,” a senior police officer supervising the security measures said.
The bypoll, held after the demise of Assembly Speaker Sapam Budhichandra Singh, had three candidates vying for the seat — Congress’ Sapam Ranjan Singh, son of Budhichandra, Trinamul’s Konthoujam Sarat Singh, backed by Opposition Manipur Peoples Party and the BJP, and Independent candidate Khangembam Ranjit Singh.
Though there was no untoward incident, proxy voting was reported from various polling stations.
Long queues were seen in most of the 28 polling stations, heavily guarded by the CRPF, the BSF and armed and unarmed Manipur police personnel. Senior police officers were deployed at the highly sensitive polling stations.
Konthoujam Lairembi High School, the home polling booth of both the Congress and Trinamul candidates, was the most heavily guarded polling venue with Imphal West additional superintendent of police N. Heorjit overseeing the security measures.
“This polling station is very sensitive as it is the home polling booth of both the Congress and Trinamul candidates. But the polling was very smooth,” the SP said.
Braving the hot sun, young and old voters stood in queues for hours.
Moreover, young girls were seen serving tea to supporters standing in queues at the Konthoujam Lairembi High School booth. Interestingly, the tea was not served to everyone. The girls apparently knew who was whose supporter and served only select voters.
A young woman was also seen giving offerings to the almighty for the success of her candidate Sarat, who is facing stiff competition from Ranjan.
The offerings were placed at the foot of Sarat’s flag just in front of the polling booth.
The girl sat there from the beginning of polling process, till the end and took her meal only after that.
“This ritual is to ensure success of our candidate Sarat,” an elderly woman explained.