18 CAPF companies deployed at Imphal East as Inner Manipur braces for polls

Ahead of the first phase of polling in Manipur which has been in turmoil for months, the Deputy Commissioner of Imphal East district, Khumanthem Diana Devi said that polling stations have been categorized into three segments in terms of their security and a total of 18 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) companies have been deployed at vulnerable and critical polling stations.
“We have categorised the polling stations into three categories in terms of the security of the polling stations. In the normal category, we do not anticipate any disturbance. There is no past experience of poll violence in these polling stations. There we are deploying sufficient state police personnel. At vulnerable and critical polling stations, we are deploying CAPF forces. 18 CAPF companies deployed in Imphal East district; Army and commandos will also be stationed at sensitive places to cater to law and order situations that may arise,” the Deputy Commissioner said speaking to ANI.
Speaking about the internally displaced people in the district who will also be voting on April 19, Diana Devi said that the district administration has facilitated them with Internally Displaced forms and are “fully prepared” to ensure their right to vote.
“Imphal East is also one of the districts affected by the incident in 2023. We have set up nine special polling stations for internally displaced people who are currently taking shelter in various camps of the district. Our team has facilitated them with Internally Displaced form. We have helped them in filling the forms and by now the exercise is over. We are fully prepared. We are ensuring their right to vote by setting up special polling stations,” the Deputy Commissioner said.
Speaking about vulnerability mapping of the polling stations ahead of the polls, Diana Devi said, “We have also done very detailed extensive exercises on vulnerability mapping as well as finding out the criticality of the polling stations. So after making a detailed assessment jointly with our district police, we have made full preparations in terms of security deployment, whether we should send central armed police force or state armed police force or how many.”
The district administration has also launched some green initiatives in the district like electric vehicles for transportation of poll personnel and usage of cloth banners in place of plastic ones for awareness campaigns, the Deputy Commissioner said.
“We have started some green initiatives for the polls like we will be introducing electric vehicles in two of the assembly constituencies out of 10 for transporting polling personnel to and fro the polling stations. We believe it will contribute in reducing the carbon footprint to certain extent…We are also trying to maximise the use of eco-friendly materials in the entire conduct of polls…,” Diana Devi said.
“Many of our SVEEP materials, like voters awareness programs, we have been focusing on digital campaign…We are reducing the use of paper pamphlets etc. We have encouraged double printing to discourage paper wastage. Many initiatives like using cloth banners, posters instead of PVC flex banners and bamboo basket dustbins in place of plastic waste bins,” she added.
Sharing details about the polling stations in her district, the DC said, “In Imphal East district, we have a total of 432 polling stations and nine special polling stations. That makes it 441 polling stations in total. We have a total of 10 Assembly constituencies that come under Inner Manipur parliamentary constituency. By now we are done with all the preparation for the coming poll day that falls on April 19.”
On the support of women personnel in the voting process, Diana Devi said, “Out of 441 polling stations, 143 polling stations will be manned by all-women polling personnel. Recently, we have conducted home voting for persons above 85 years of age and those with disabilities (above 40 per cent disablitiy). Women employees have contributed their part in this exercise also.”
Speaking about the challenges that the district officials might face on voting day, the DC said, “We never know that on poll day any law and order situation may arise or not. So preparedness for that has also been kept in place. We don’t foresee any such major challenge as such. Even if such a situation arises our team is fully ready to ensure smooth conduct and fair and transparent election process.”
The Inner Manipur Lok Sabha constituency which will be voting this Friday, is one of the two Lok Sabha constituencies in the north-eastern state.