Lok Sabha to poll in 2,861 stations of Manipur

Pothashang News Service: Imphal, January 17, 2019: In the upcoming Lok Sabha Election, 2019, voters across Manipur will exercise their franchise at 2,861 polling stations out of which 603 are in the urban and 2,258 in the rural areas.

A total of 19,30,912 photo electoral rolls have been registered for the 60 assembly constituencies of the state, out of which 9,39,926 are male, 9,90,960 are female and 26 are third gender voters. This is for the first time that trans-genders have done registration. The number of male voters has increased to 7,135 and that of female to 8,508, said chief electoral officer (CEO), Manipur PK Singh.

Addressing the reporters at his office here said the figures of the final electoral rolls published on January 11 will change as intensive revision are being done which will continue till the day of the nomination.

Stating that Manipur was the first state in the country to publish the electoral rolls and upload it on ERO (Election Registration Officers) Net, he informed that the Election Commission of India praised the office of the CEO Manipur for the job, he added.

He announced that for the first time in the state in the 17^th Lok Sabha Election, the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) will be used for the service voters who are at present registered at 16,643 and the final list of the service voters will be published on February 22. He informed that for the first time VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) will be used across all the polling stations.

He informed that the ECI has lowered the limit of cash transactions by candidates for campaigning purposes from Rs 20,000 to Rs 10,000 per day. The candidates and parties will have to make payment using cross cheques, drafts or electronic means, including NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer )/RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement ), through the account of the candidate opened for electioneering which will be monitored, he informed.

Informing that special focus has been given to the Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) who are marked at above 4,000 in the electoral roll, he said that for the first time EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) and voters slip will be printed in braille for the blind voters apart from giving preferences to the PWDs to exercise their franchise, mapping them with volunteers and providing transportation. He informed that above 800 blind voters have been marked till date.

A single toll free helpline number 1950 will be launched on National Voters Day and a model polling station will be set up with basic amenities in every constituency. The state has achieved 100 percent photo electoral rolls and issued 100 percent EPIC. The distribution process of remaining 53,000 EPIC cards will be done by National Voters Day, said the officer.

Stating that citizens can download Android based cVIGIL App from the Google Play Store, he said that the App allows voters to send geo-tagged videos and photos of any violations of the model code of conduct that take place during the election. He said that political parties will appoint booth level agents to check and solve any problem in collaboration with the booth level officer.

The Election Commission of India has assigned the CEO Manipur to develop the creative multimedia campaign for the print and social media for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections after the grand success of the SVEEP campaign “I am ready” prepared by the CEO Manipur in the print, electronic and social media.