Manipur to have women booths, flying squads

Pink polling booths manned by women in over 33 booths, GPS-enabled Flying Squad teams in Imphal, and Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail in two constituencies are some of the few firsts that come with the 11 Assembly polls.
Speaking to DNA, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Vivek Kumar Dewangam said that the pink polling booth will be manned by women poling staff and security personnel.

"This is going to be the first time we will introduce this in the state. Apart from that, we will hand out a token of appreciations to the 55,000 first time voters across the state in both the phases," said Dewangam.

The pink booths will be spread out across both the phases in over 33 places, including 10 in Imphal (West), 15 in Churachandrapur and six in Bishnupur in the first phase, and two in Ukhrul in the second phase, said the CEO.

Apart from that, the Election Commission will also employ GPS-enabled flying squad team to monitor candidates and political parties. And, for people with disabilities, ASHA and anganwadi health workers will be deployed to assist them.

Of the 38 seats that go to polls in the first phase, 168 candidates are up for the electoral battle, with 38 candidates from the BJP, 37 from Congress, four from CPI, two from CPI(M), 14 independents, and 73 from unrecognised parties. In the second phase, of the 22 seats, 98 candidates are up for the polls, with BJP fielding 24 candidates, Congress 22, CPI two, nine independents, and 41 from unrecognised parties.