Record 86 pc turnout in last phase of Manipur polls

Manipur today witnessed a record turnout of 86 per cent in the second and last phase of polling in 22 Assembly constituencies, the highest since 2009 general elections.

The polling went off peacefully "barring a couple of stray incidents", Election Commission Director General Sudeep Jain told reporters here.

Jain said the polling percentage could go up as the figures were available for 75 per cent of the total 1,151 polling stations covering 10 districts of the northeastern state.

The number of people who turned up to vote in the remaining 25 per cent polling stations will be known later as these are located in far-flung areas where no means of communication is available, he added.

The official said that the first phase polling, held on March 4 in 38 seats, recorded 86 per cent turnout.

"The percentage of males who voted today was 84 per cent. Female voter turnout was 89 per cent. There was no boycott of polling reported," Jain said.

The state had recorded overall 79.80 per cent turnout in 2012.

The official said that 16 electronic voting machines and 5 voter verifiable paper audit trail systems had to be replaced during the second phase polling, for which 5,800 polling personnel and 8,600 security men were deployed.

The counting of votes in Manipur will be taken up on March 11, along with four other states -- Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly polls were held.

The election authorities seized Rs 35.40 lakh cash, liquor worth Rs 22.85 lakh and 252 kg of drugs worth Rs 2.46 crore from people trying to influence voters during the last phase.

In the previous phase, Rs 1.93 crore in cash, liquor worth Rs 77.38 lakh and 109 kg of drugs worth Rs 76.02 lakh were seized.

Jain said the 53.6 percent of licensed guns were deposited with the authorities as part of preventive action.

Meanwhile, he said that Rs 20 lakh ex-gratia have been granted to the kin of a booth-level officer who died in a bomb explosion while on poll duty yesterday in Aishi village of Ukhrul district.