Imphal:

People living in camps in violence-hit Manipur state will be allowed to vote in the camps in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission announced on Saturday.

At a press conference announcing the date of the Lok Sabha elections, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said, “We will make all arrangements” while responding to a question about Manipur.

“We have prepared a plan and have notified the plan… to allow voters in camps to vote from the camps. Like the plan for Jammu and Kashmir migrants… the plan will be to Implemented in Nippur. Voters will be allowed to vote from their respective camps… from lower constituency to higher constituency and from higher constituency to lower constituency,” Mr Kumar said.

He added: “My appeal to voters is, let us decide by voting, let us decide peacefully by going to elections and we will make arrangements.”

Ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki tribes in Manipur have killed more than 200 people since May last year.

According to officials, security forces have rescued more than 25,000 people after the unrest, and about 50,000 people are living in camps.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)