LS polls: 16.68% turnout recorded in repolling in Outer Manipur till 9 am

A voter turnout of 16.68 per cent was recorded till 9 am at six polling stations in Outer Manipur Lok Sabha seat, where repolling is underway on Tuesday, election officials said.

No untoward incident was reported so far and voting, which commenced at 7 am, is underway under tight security arrangements, they said.

Repolling was necessitated as unidentified persons had damaged EVMs and VVPATs before the completion of voting at four of these six polling stations on April 26, while EVM malfunctioning was reported at one polling station, and voting could not be completed at another due to "threat and intimidation by unknown miscreants", they said.

Voting at four polling stations in Ukhrul assembly segment, and one each in Chingai assembly seat in Ukhrul and Karong in Senapati was declared null and void, a notification issued by the office of Manipur's chief electoral officer had earlier said.

Five of the polling stations are in Ukhrul district and have a total of 4,156 voters.

Around 76.06 per cent of 4.84 lakh voters exercised their franchise during polling in 13 of 28 assembly segments of Outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency on April 26. Voting was held in the remaining 15 segments, along with the entire Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat, in the first phase on April 19.