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IMPHAL — Ten tribal Manipur MLAs, belonging to the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar community, have urged the Election Commission to make special arrangements for voting for displaced tribals scattered in different parts of the country after the ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3 last year.
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, the ten MLAs said that the eligible voters among some 50,000 displaced Kuki-Zomi-Hmar people living outside Manipur should be allowed to cast their votes using Aadhaar cards and other valid documents as many of them would have lost their voter identity cards.
The letter said that after the communal conflict broke out on May 3 last year in Manipur, many people have fled the Imphal Valley after their houses, properties and churches have been looted, burnt and destroyed.
"The communal violence has resulted so far in the death of over 160 innocent civilians of our community, burning and destruction of over 360 churches, over 205 villages, and over 7,000 houses in the Imphal valley and different hill districts. As a solution to the conflict remains elusive and with the situation still volatile, none of our displaced people are in a position to return to the Imphal Valley and their villages compelling them to take shelter in different parts of the country, including Mizoram, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Delhi as well as several other cities."
"This suffering of ours, which is among the few human tragedies witnessed by independent India, should not be allowed to turn into a classic case of denial of universal adult franchise guaranteed under Article 326 of the Indian constitution," the MLAs’ letter to the CEC said.
It said that if suitable arrangements are not made for the displaced people taking shelter in different parts of the country, many genuine voters would be deprived of their constitutional rights to exercise their franchise as provided under the constitution.
Meanwhile, Manipur Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pradeep Kumar Jha earlier said that the Election Commission has decided to set up special polling stations in relief camps in Manipur to facilitate voters living in the camps.
However, the plan to set up special polling stations in relief camps is limited to the state’s territorial jurisdiction only, he had added.
The Manipur government is currently operating around 320 relief camps with more than 59,000 men, women and children staying there.
Of Manipur's two Lok Sabha seats, polling would be held in the Inner Manipur parliamentary constituency in the first phase of polling on April 19, and Outer Manipur (reserved for tribals) would go to polls in two phases – April 19 and April 26.