Parties gear up for Manipur Assembly elections

IMPHAL, Jan 6 : With the announcement of the election schedule for the State of Manipur formally on December 26 last year by the chief election commission J M Lyngodoh, majority of the political parties here in this border and volatile State have started gearing up for the upcoming 8th assembly election. The Election Commission announced that Manipur would go to polls on February 14 and 21 while the State of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttaranachal will have their Assembly election in between February 13 and 21. However, the formal notification of the election is to be issued on January 16. Soon after the announcement of the election schedule, all the national and regional political parties in Manipur welcomed the stand of the Election Commission and termed it as a Valentine gift to Manipur for the new year. As most of the political parties started to gear up their political strategies, the State election department is also all set to do the needful for the successful holding of the 8th state assembly. The chief electoral officer of Manipur D S Poonia informed the State-level coordinating committee set up for the forthcoming election, that all preparations have been taken up to ensure that everything goes well when the State goes to poll on February 14 and 21. A meeting of the State-level coordinating committee was also held on Saturday at the conference hall of the State secretariat in connection with the preparations of the election. The meeting which was presided by the chief secretary of Manipur, Rakesh, also discussed the pros and cons of introducing the electronic voting machine (EVM) for the first time in manipur in the coming election. The chief electoral officer of Manipur in the meantime informed that a demonstration of the EVM will be organised on January 18 in this regard. Meanwhile, the election committee of Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (I) has failed to formally announce that list of the Congress (I) candidates even though the election committee of AICC has finalised the candidates. However, the finalised list of the Congress party had reportedly reached the press on Saturday. Some of the senior leaders of the MPCC(I) said that the party is caught in a dilemma as a number of veteran Congress workers and members have been left out in the cold and a couple of corruption tainted political figures have been included in the list. Moreover, a number of political figures who switched to the Congress found favours with the high command. A number of veteran political figures have made in cut as Congress candidates. The list also contains the names of 13 fresh candidates out of 60 candidates to be field. The present Rajya Sabha member and senior Congressman Wahengbam Angou and another Congress heavyweigth Y Irabot have been left in the lurch. In view of the development, tension is already brewing and there could be an anger developing amongst the long time Congress workers who have been given the short shrift. Due to the tension, the party may not be able to formally announce its list, sources said.