The bypolls to four Assembly constituencies in Manipur conducted on Saturday concluded peacefully with a high voter turnout of 92.54 per cent. The bypolls were necessitated after four Congress MLAs resigned from the Assembly and joined the ruling BJP. Counting of votes will be held on November 10. K Bono Singh, the joint Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), said the bypolls remained peaceful except for stray incidents which did not affect the voting process. Voting began as scheduled at 7 am and concluded at 5 pm, he said. Wangoi Assembly segment recorded the highest voter turnout with 93.26 per cent, followed by Lilong (93.3 per cent), Wangjing Tentha (92.3 per cent) and Saitu (91.59 per cent), Singh said. The voting in two polling stations at Wangoi went on till 7.20 pm as a large number of voters were still in the queue, he said. Following Covid-19 SOPs, safety measures were taken up at each polling station. As per the guidelines of the Election Commission, Covid-19 patients who are quarantined can cast their votes in the last hour of polling under the supervision of health authorities. However, the total number of Covid-19 patients who exercised their franchise in all four constituencies could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report. The EC had originally scheduled bypolls for five Assembly constituencies. However, BJP candidate G S Haupu won the Singhat seat unopposed after his rival candidate withdrew his nomination. With pti inputs
