Manipur elections 2017: Fate of Ibobi Singh, Irom Sharmila to be decided now

GUWAHATI: The second and final phase of polling in Manipur, which will decide the fate of Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh and activist-turnedpolitician Irom Sharmila, will be held on Wednesday.

A total of 98 candidates, including four women, are contesting from 22 assembly constituencies.

This phase will witness polling in the hill districts of Ukhrul, Chandel, Tamenglong and Senapati. Manipur has 60 assembly seats, of which 20 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes. A total of 10,79,369 voters will exercise franchise in 1,151 polling stations on Wednesday.

The first phase of polls on March 4 saw an impressive voter turnout of 86%. Around 280 companies of central para military forces are on poll duty.

The Manipur media has been caught in an advertisement row ahead of the crucial second phase.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) had issued showcause notices to eight editors of Imphal-based newspapers for carrying an advertisement of the Manipur unit of the BJP on March 3. The Editors’ Guild held a meeting to discuss the issue.

The Editors’ Guild, Manipur, alleged that BJP authorities inserted the advertisement by giving media certification which was not related to the advertisement material submitted by it, leading to the ECI issuing the show cause notices.

“Failure to clarify would be construed as a deliberate attempt to mislead the media houses. We also condemn the act that has put the editors of Manipur in poor light,” the Guild stated.

An FIR has been lodged against the eight editors and the officer-bearers of the BJP state unit. The Election Commission considers the publication of the advertisement on last Friday’s edition to be in contravention of its order and violation of the Representation of the People Act.

Assam finance minister and convener of the BJP-floated platform of non-Congress parties, the Northeast Democratic Alliance ( NEDA), Himanta Biswa Sarma, said BJP did nothing wrong by publishing the failures of the Congress government through media in accordance with the rules.

It is important for people to know the wrongdoings of the Congress government, he said. “Everybody knows that the Congress government was indulging in rampant corruption,” he said.