A voter turnout of 78.03 per cent was recorded in the first of two phase elections in Manipur, sealing the fate of 173 candidates. In the 2017 assembly election, The official said that the first phase polling, held on March 4, 2017 in 38 seats, recorded 86 per cent turnout.
The voting was held at 38 constituencies spread across five districts including Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur, Churachandpur, and Kangpokpi. The state has a total of 60 assembly seats.second phase of election will be held on March 5, for 22 Assembly seats.
Kangpokpi registered a maximum 82.97 % voter turnout, followed by Imphal West at 82.19%.
Churachandpur recorded 74.45 voter turnout while Bishnupur registered least turnout of the day at 73.44%
According to ECI, As many as 173 candidates out of which 15 are women are in the fray with A total of 12,09,439 voters including 5,80,607 male, 6,28,657 female and 175 transgender voters exercised their franchise across 1,721 polling stations.
BJP is fielding candidates in all the 38 seats while the Congress is contesting 35, the JD(U) 28 and the NPP 27.
According to the ECI, of the 2,959 polling booths, 1,099 and 763 have been identified as vulnerable and critical.
A Manipur Police personnel, who was on poll duty on Monday, was killed by accidental firing, said Chief Electoral Office (CEO) Rajesh Agarwal.
The key candidates whose fates would be decided today include Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who is contesting from Heingang, speaker Y Khemchand Singh from Singjamei, Deputy Chief Minister Yumnam Joykumar Singh from Uripok and state Congress chief N Lokesh Singh from Nambol.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which got 21 seats (36.28% total voting share), formed the government in the state in 2017 even as Congress emerged as the single-largest party with 28 seats (35.11% total voting share) with the help of the National People’s Party which won 4 seats (7.17% total voting share), and Naga People’s Front and the Lok Janshakti Party both won 1 seat each.
