The three-week campaign, marked by heat and dust, for the elections to the 60-seat Manipur Assembly ended at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
There are 279 contestants in the fray in the Congress-ruled State, which has 17.40 lakh voters, including 8.82 lakh women.
Polling on Saturday
Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi told The Hindu that all arrangements were put in place to ensure smooth and fair polling, which would be held from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
He condemned the killing earlier in the day of a head constable and a constable of the Central Reserve Police Force, involved in poll duty, allegedly in sniper fire by militants at Chasad in Ukhrul district.
Security tightened
Deputy Election Commissioner Alok Shukla, who is in charge of Manipur, said the killings would not deter the EC from ensuring peaceful polling, and efforts had been made to tighten security.
Of the 60 seats, one is reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 19 are for the Scheduled Tribes.
Official sources here said most of the personnel had left for their polling stations in the hill districts of Senapati, Ukhrul, Tamenglong, Chandel and Churachandpur.
