After West Bengal, Manipur reported a resurgence of violence on Friday, with the state reporting incidents of firing, booth-capturing attempts, and destruction of EVMs.
Reports emerged that, in an attempt to stall the voting process, armed miscreants entered a polling booth in Khongman, Imphal East, and were allegedly involved in proxy voting.
Significantly, the incident comes mere hours later when gunshots were reportedly fired near a polling booth in Thamanpokpi in the Moirang area of Manipur on Friday morning amid the voting for phase 1 Lok Sabha elections, triggering panic in the area.
A 25-second video posted online purportedly showed commotion and people shouting haywire as the two shots were heard in quick succession, then followed by a third shot. However, it did not stop there, only as a volley of gunshots, possibly from an automatic weapon, was heard and the person filming the video hides for a safety shelter behind a doorway. Moreover, according to the video footage, the rapid exchange of gunfire continues for 10 seconds before it stops.
There was firing and clash by unidentified miscreants at a polling booth in Moirangkampu Sajeb Awang Leikai of Imphal during voting in Lok Sabha elections today in which one civilian was injured in the incident.
Block Level Officer, for Moirangkampu Sajeb Surbala Devi said, "Suddenly two men here came and asked for polling agents of Congress and BJP. They took the Congress agent outside by holding his hand. Then the two men fired shots from inside the car. One person got injured."
Meanwhile, it was initially unclear in which of Manipur's two seats—the Inner Manipur and the Outer Manipur—the shots were fired. The inner seat was won by the BJP's Thounaojam Basanta Kumar Singh in the 2019 election and he is contesting for the re-elections this year.
While, the outer seat, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates, was won by Naga People's Front leader Kachui Timothy Zimik, who has been fielded again.
It is pertinent to note that the north-eastern state has been marred by a series of deadly acts of violence since May last year. The vilence that started over clashes between two ethnic communities has left the security situation in the state on shackles. The May 2023 violence has claimed over 200 lives and displaced tens of thousands.
