Voting started at 7 am and would end at 3 pm. About 23,499 voters, including 12,703 women, are expected to exercise their franchise to elect their representatives from the constituency where four candidates, E Suraj (Congress), H Jayadev (independent), S Rajen (Janata Dal Secular) and A Jagadish (independent), are in the fray.
By-elections were necessitated due to the death of Congress MLA E Kunjeshore, father of E Suraj, four months ago.
Central para military forces, including BSF and CRPF, have been deployed at all the 28 polling stations, including nine hyper sensitive, in view of the threat of militant outfits, sources said.
Every voter, particularly at certain polling stations, including Wangkhei Boys Junior High School in the heart of Imphal town, is being checked with metal detectors.
Counting of votes would be taken up on December 23.
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