The Opposition Congress on Thursday moved the Election Commission objecting to the payments released by the Centre to militant groups in Manipur recently alleging that the same was a bribe to intimidate voters in favour of ruling BJP.
Senior Congress leader and AICC observer, Jairam Ramesh told reporters in Imphal that Rs. 15.70 crore was released by the MHA on February 1 and another Rs. 92.62 lakh was released on March 1 as instalments to militant groups, who are in Suspension of Operation (SOO) agreement with the government.
"We are not against dialogue or SOO with militant groups. But the fact that the money was released just before polling makes it clear that it was done to bribe the militant groups to influence voters in favour of the BJP. This is bribery, corruption and violation of the Model Code of Conduct of the elections. This has been done for benefit of BJP," Ramesh said.
The payment on February 1 was released to influence votes in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi, where polling was conducted in the first phase on February 28. The payment on March 1 was aimed at influencing voters in Tengnoupal and Chandel districts where polling is scheduled for March 5, he said.
Congress and National People's Party (NPP), a partner of BJP-led government in Manipur since 2017 had earlier alleged that BJP was using the militant groups to intimidate voters and threaten rival candidates.
Polling for 38 out of 60 Assembly constituencies was conducted on February 28. A little over 88 per cent of voters cast their votes. Polling in the remaining 22 seats will be conducted on March 5.
Repolling ordered:
The allegation was made on a day Election Commission ordered repolling in 12 Assembly constituencies in Imphal East, Kangpokpi and Churachandpur districts, where polling was conducted on February 28. Repolling will be conducted along with the second and final phase of polling on March 5.
The polling stations where re-polling has been ordered are under the Khundrakpam Assembly constituency in Imphal East district, Saitu in Kangpokpi district and Thanlen, Henglep and Singhat in Churachandpur district.
"One of the main reasons for consideration of re-polling was connected to damage of EVMs by miscreants during and after the poll. These kinds of incidents lead to major discomfort to the electors of
the polling station as their right to the franchise gets infringed on the poll day and they will now need to come out again to exercise their rightful franchise on the day of repoll," Chief Electoral Officer, Manipur, Rajesh Agrawal said in a statement.
Soon after the first phase of polling, Congress workers had staged protests alleging rigging by BJP workers and demanded repolling in several polling stations.
BJP has set a target for the absolute majority and formed a government in Manipur for the second term while Congress wants to bounce back to power.
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