“I believe that people will vote for us”: BJP Manipur president Sharda Devi ahead of LS polls

Manipur BJP President Sharda Devi expressed confidence that the people of Manipur will vote for the party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking to ANI, Sharda Devi said, “I believe that the people will vote for us in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP will work for the peace and welfare of the people in the state. Even in the last election, people trusted us. They will entrust us with the responsibility of Manipur this time as well.”
When asked about the opposition party’s claims that the BJP did not put in efforts to prevent the situation of violence in the state, Sharda Devi said, “The opposition, who allege that we (the BJP) failed to prevent ethnic violence in the state, it was during their tenure that Kuki-Naga (the struggle) went on for 6 years.”
Speaking about the violence in the state, she said, “The BJP is doing all possible things for the betterment of Manipur. Whatever we are facing today is due to what the opposing party has done in the past. The plant that we sow today will not benefit right now… We will benefit in the days to come.”
Meanwhile, 29 special polling stations have been set up ahead of the Lok Sabha elections for about 5,000 people, who are presently sheltered in camps.
“All arrangements to enable displaced people to vote have been made in accordance with the guidance received from the central government,” polling officials told ANI.
Speaking to ANI on Friday, Imphal West Deputy Commissioner Kiran Kumar said, “Considering the violence and the displacement caused by the ethnic clashes, we have arranged special polling stations to enable the internally displaced people to vote. Twenty-nine such polling stations have been opened ahead of the general elections.”
“The people displaced within the district will vote at their designated polling stations. There is no specific arrangement for them apart from the transportation services that we will provide. For people from other parliamentary constituencies, who were shifted to Imphal West in light of the violence, we have opened special polling stations. For Inner Manipur, we have arranged for 29 such polling stations. There are about 5,000 internally displaced people,” he added.
The deputy commissioner added that over the last one or two months, peace has returned to the restive Northeast state following dead clashes over several months.
The official further said that they were also tracking social media posts closely, and necessary action to take down offensive, misleading or mischievous posts would be taken as and when necessary.
Ethnic clashes erupted in the Northeast state in May, last year, after a tribal solidarity march organised to protest against an order of the Manipur High Court, asking the state government to consider including the majority community in the state in the list of Scheduled Tribes, took a violent turn.