Assembly polls: Counting of votes underway in Manipur

The political fervour goes high as all eyes are set on the counting of votes of Assembly elections in Manipur that began at 8 am on Thursday morning.

Riding on their poll plank of development and improved connectivity in the state in the last five years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will try to retain power in Manipur while the Congress-led alliance is seeking to wrest the state from the BJP and is hoping for a favourable verdict as the countdown begins for the counting of votes polled in the 2022 Assembly elections.

Days ahead of the counting on March 10, the exit polls in Manipur gave a clear edge to the ruling BJP followed by Congress, a distant second. Elections for the 60-member Manipur Assembly took take place in two phases on February 28 and March 5.

Ahead of the counting, proper security measures have been taken including the imposition of Section 144 CrPC around the counting centres to ensure that peace and tranquillity are not disturbed and counting of votes is conducted smoothly, the Chief Electoral Officer, Manipur informed.

In 2017, the BJP had formed the government in Manipur with the support of the National People's Party (NPP), Naga People's Front (NPF) and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) but this time, it decided to go solo and is contesting on all the 60 seats.

On the other hand, Congress had formed an alliance of six political parties and named it Manipur Progressive Secular Alliance (MPSA). The coalition partners in MPSA include Congress, Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Janata Dal (Secular).

BJP Manipur unit President, Adhikarimayum Sharda Devi, exuded confidence in her party's victory in the state polls. She said that BJP has set a target of bagging more than 40 seats out of a total of 60 constituencies in Manipur.

"We have set a target of over 40 seats and are confident of forming a stable government. When the final results are declared, we expect the number to be 40 plus only... We haven't taken a decision on Chief Ministerial candidate and there is no point of a new CM here," Devi told ANI.Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik said that people's verdict will be in favour of the Congress in Manipur.

"People's verdict will be in favour of the congress and will be forming the govt here along with the other alliance parties. Time and again, exit polls have been found to be wrong. We believe what came out in the exit poll is far from what we will see on March 10," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )

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