Manipur set for counting

Imphal, Feb. 27 : The office of chief electoral officer P. C. Lawmkunga is gearing up for the counting of votes as the Election Commission is unlikely to order repoll for stations where proxy votes were detected.

The one-day polling was held on January 28 and repoll was held for 34 seats where polling was disrupted because of violence. The Election Commission fixed March 6 as the date for counting of the votes.

However, the repoll did not end the problem.

Largescale proxy voting was detected in 523 polling stations during tally of photographs of voters on the voter list and those taken on polling day. The check was carried out following directives from the Election Commission.

This is for the first time in the country that voters’ photographs were taken on the day of polling. The move was aimed at checking proxy votes and booth capturing, which have been a part of the polling process in Manipur in the past many elections.

The detection of proxy votes meant trouble for the Election Commission with majority of the political parties demanding rejection of the proxy votes detected in the photo comparison exercise, instead of holding repoll in the stations.

A delegation of 10 non-Congress political parties left for New Delhi today to urge the Election Commission to reject the proxy votes and start counting of the voters according to schedule.

As part of preparations, the chief electoral officer has been visiting counting halls to ensure that everything is in place.

The official yesterday visited the counting halls in Imphal West and Imphal East and also inspected the strongrooms where electronic voting machines are kept under tight security.

He will also be visiting counting stations in the other districts.

Lawmkunga said no further repoll would be held, but was not certain about the fate of the proxy votes.

He said all necessary reports were sent to the Election Commission and his office was waiting for a directive on the proxy votes.

The 10 political parties have been alleging that postal ballot papers were issued to government employees who were not on poll duty on January 28.

Those employees who received postal ballot papers also caste their votes in their respective polling stations, the parties charged.

They are also demanding rejection of bogus postal ballot papers.