Ahead of the state assembly elections in Manipur scheduled on March 4 and March 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Imphal’s West district to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate and address a rally on February 25. The rally will be conducted Langjing Achouba which was earlier scheduled to happen at the Kangla Fort but later changed as an objection was raised by Irom Sharmila’s People Resurgence and Justice Alliance (PRJA) urging that the fort is a sacred place for state’s people.
For the upcoming election, which will be carried out in two phases, has 266 candidates in the fray.
The security conditions have been tightened ahead of PM’s arrival. Earlier on February 24, the local police of Imphal have recovered two hand grenades outside the houses of two BJP Leaders. According to several media reports, one bomb was recovered from the BJP candidate Soibam Subhachandra’s residence’s gate at Ningombam Leikai which is 9 km away from the rally venue while the second bomb was found in front of another BJP worker O Sunil’s residence in Thoubal district. As reported, the recovered explosives were Chinese-made hand grenades.
For the upcoming elections in Manipur, the key players in the state are Congress and BJP with 59 and 60 candidates respectively. Apart from these two national fronts, Trinamool Congress has fielded 16 candidates, NCP-7, CPI-6 and CPI(M)-2. Another regional parties like Irom Sharmila’s newly formed PRJA has named 6 candidates, Naga People’s Front-16 candidates, People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) has only 1 while 23 candidates will be contesting as independent candidates.
