Polling for two Lok Sabha seats in Manipur to be held in two phases

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking voting facilities for around 18,000 people internally displaced by ethnic clashes in Manipur for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Polling for the two Lok Sabha seats in Manipur will be held in two phases on April 19 and 26.

A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said the court’s intervention, especially at this belated stage, would pose a major hurdle in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in Manipur.

“You came at the last moment. At this stage, what can actually be done? We cannot interfere at this stage,” the bench said.

The Supreme Court is hearing a plea by Manipur resident Naulak Khamsuanthang and others seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to make arrangements to enable internally displaced persons settled outside Manipur to vote in their Lok Sabha elections. Special polling stations are set up in the state where you live.

“There are 18,000 internally displaced persons. They want to vote in Manipur elections,” said the lawyer appearing for the petitioners.

Manipur has been engulfed in escalating violence since May 2023. More than 160 people have been killed and hundreds injured since the first outbreak of ethnic violence in the state on May 3, when a “tribal unity march” was organized in the hills. Protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Although the number and intensity of violence is slowly decreasing, many people still live in relief camps far from their homes.

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