IMPHAL: The CPI today demanded disqualification of Congress candidate from Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat, Thokchom Meinya Singh, alleging large-scale rigging and proxy voting during polls on April 17.
Maintaining that in one polling booth the poll percentage was over 100%, CPI leaders D Raja and Manipur party secretary M Nara Singh, who also contested from the same constituency, submitted a memorandum to the ElectionCommission here alleging "rampant proxy voting and booth capturing by Congress workers at the instance of Congress candidate in many of the polling booths."
While high voting percentage is good, "but when 29 out of 39 polling booths exceed 90% polling that is not normally possible, then questions have to be raised," Raja told reporters.
Nara Singh said repoll was ordered in booth number 31/1 of Thoubal assembly segment on April 22 "only because of the fact that poll percentage was as high as 100.26%." During repoll, there was only 87% polling.
He also claimed that Congress was "openly offering money to agents of other parties to look the other way when proxy voting was being carried out. This is a new feature which has never been seen in Manipur in the past."
