Imphal: Campaigning reached a peak on the penultimate day on Wednesday for the Thongju and Thangmeiband bypolls on November 21.
Mass rallies, house-to-house campaigns, meetings were galore as candidates and their supporters tried their best to woo voters before campaigning ends tomorrow at 1600 hrs.
During the voting from 0700 hrs to 1600 hrs, armed personnel will guard all the polling stations.
A total of 53328 people are expected to cast their votes. The numbers of female voters exceed those of males.
A total of 25,114 electorate (13,687 female and 12,570 male) are expected to exercise their franchise in Thangmeiband constituency while in Thongju A/C, a total of 28,214 voters (14,564 female and 13,650 male) will cast their votes. There will be 41 polling stations in 9-Thangmeiband A/C while 5-Thongju will have 45 polling stations.
About ten security personnel will be posted in every polling stations .
To assist the security personnel, about 12 companies of paramilitary forces have reached Imphal.
Meanwhile, polling officials today underwent training.
INC candidate Bijoy Koijam, BJP candidate Th Biswajit and Manipur Democratic People’s Front (MDPF) candidate G Tonsana were in the fray in Thongju A/C while INC candidate Jyotin Waikhom, BJP candidate Khumukcham Joykishan and MDPF candidate G Tonsana will contest at the Thangmeiband A/C.
The seats of Thangmeiband and Thongju A/Cs had fallen vacant after Speaker’s tribunal disqualified three MLAs Thongam Biswajit Singh of Thongju and Khumukcham Joykishan of Thangmeiband and O Lukhoi of Wangoi under the anti-defection law on May 28.
The case of O Lukhoi was, however, stayed by Manipur High Court. Central observers have also reached the state. (UNI)
