Imphal, March 10 : The counting of votes for all the 60 Manipur Assembly constituencies began amidst tight security at 8 am on Thursday. The counting is being held in 41counting halls spread over 12 counting centres in various parts of the state to decide the fate of 265 candidates, including 17 women. The notable candidates include Chief Minister N Biren (BJP) at Heingang, former CM O Ibobi (Congress) at Thoubal, Deputy Chief Minister Y Joykumar (National People’s Party) at Uripok, Th Biswajit (BJP) at Thongju and Th Radheshyam (BJP) at Heirok. In the 2017 Assembly Elections, the Congress had won 28, Bharatiya Janata Party 21, Naga Peoples Front 4 and National People’s Party 4 seats. Lok Jan Shakti Party. All India Trinamool Congress and Independents had bagged one seat each. The officials and counting agents have started counting the postal ballots. The votes polled in the Electronic Voting Machines would be taken up once the postal ballots were counted, election officials said. The District Election Officers and Superintendent of Police in each district have made elaborate security arrangement for counting including a minimum of three-tier security comprising CAPF and the State Police. The entire process of counting, in addition to the Returning Officer, is being supervised by the 41 General Observers appointed by the Election Commission of India, one each for each Counting Hall.
with agency inputs
