19 candidates in the fray for Manipur polls

Altogether 19 candidates will be in the fray for the two Lok Sabha seats in Manipur. No candidate withdrew the nomination papers on Friday, the last date of withdrawal.

Eleven candidates are participating for the Inner Manipur constituency which goes to the polls on April 18. Eight tribal candidates are in the fray for the reserved Outer Manipur seat which will see voting on April 11.

There is no woman candidate in both the constituencies. One woman applicant for the BJP ticket, Kim Gangte had resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party after she was not allotted the party ticket.

There are 19,59,429 voters in both the constituencies. For the first time 45 transgender voters in Manipur will cast their votes under their distinctive identity of being transgenders.

Chief Electoral Officer P.K. Singh said all arrangements including security cover to the polling officials are in place.

Electioneering is in full swing with the two major players, the Congress and the BJP, trading charges and counter charges. However, so far there is no report of any untoward campaign related incident in any part of the state.

--IANS

ib/rs/bg