93 p.c. voting registered in Hiyanglam Assembly bypoll

While the polling was in progress police recovered and neutralised safely a Chinese made hand grenade at Yairipok in the same district.

Polling in the Hiyanglam byelection at Thoubal district in Manipur ended peacefully, with 93 per cent polling recorded at 5:30 pm on Friday.

Although polling was completed in 32 polling stations before 4 pm there was a delay in the two remaining polling stations since some voters had come late. Though the polling schedule was from 7 a.m to 4 p.m, there were some voters left in the queue in two polling stations even after the scheduled close, hence polling had to continue till 5:30 pm.

Chief election officer O. Nabakishor thanked the voters since he had appealed to them earlier to cast their votes peacefully. He had declared all 34 polling stations as hypersensitive. In addition to the police and paramilitary personnel, central forces were deployed. The polling centres were guarded by ten armed central force personnel each.

There are 24,492 voters in this constituency. Counting will be held on Monday and the official result is expected within two hours.

There are five candidates in the fray, however it is felt that the major players are the ruling Congress and the BJP. The seat fell vacant following the death of the TMC MLA Kunjo Maibam. He had won the 2012 Assembly polls by a margin of 17 votes. However his son, Dhanavir Maibam, had joined the BJP even before his death.

While the polling was in progress police recovered and neutralised safely a Chinese made hand grenade at Yairipok in the same district.