DIMAPUR, MARCH 8 (MExN): The Dimapur I A/C bye-election which was today held across 38 polling stations was officially termed as “remarkably peaceful” with some stray incidents of violence in certain areas. Maximum security was provided by security agencies which were largely responsible for the violence free polling, officials maintained. However, several voters expressed dismay over the inability of genuine voters to cast their votes and said that a lot of proxy votes were being cast everywhere and in some instances the voters on entering the voting booth were astonished to discover that their votes had already been cast by others. Expressing sadness over the situation, a source disclosed that some parties were even distributing money around some polling stations in order to buy the voters at the last minute and that a single person was seen casting her votes 5 to 6 times in the same polling station.
In another incident which occurred in polling station-24 at Namghar School, opposite Public College of Commerce, the NPF party was seen in hot discussion with the CRPF over the slack in checking of the voters. Sources revealed that the complaint was about a catapult which was found inside the polling station but the CRPF in-charge of the polling said that the catapult had been taken from the pocket of a voter and then handed back to him after he had cast his vote.
The presence of a host of security personnel in the different polling stations also failed to check the fair conduct of the election in which various parties were seen sitting nearby with tables and chairs, freely issuing voting slips to their party members. In one polling station (at Burma Camp) there were also a group of boys sitting openly with a bottle of remover and a huge roll of cotton to remove indelible ink from the fingers of their voters. The security and peacefulness of the bye-election was thus indicated to be a superficial one with no real steps taken to insure a fair polling.
It was also reported by some sources that there had been some agitation late last night around polling stations 4 and 5 at Manipur State Transport in Chakhesang Colony and a large group of people were seen purposefully moving towards the polling station, and expressed suspicion of foul play even before the polling.
The Dimapur I A/C bye-election which was necessitated by the sudden death of Late Dr. Hokeshe caused the whole town to come to a standstill as vehicular movements were restricted. Dimapur wore a deserted look as all shops remained closed till the polling was over. Counting of votes will take place on March 12 Monday and results declared the same day.
