A majority of over 50,000 internally displaced people are currently staying at relief centres across five valley districts and three hill districts.Scheduled in two phases on April 19 and 26, the Lok Sabha elections in Manipur have garnered attention for the displaced population’s voting arrangements.Several civil society groups and the affected people have been questioning the relevance of elections in the strife-torn state.There have been calls from several quarters about boycotting the polls too.Sharing the statistics, Jha said there are over 20 lakh voters in the state and women voters outnumber the men voters.”The state has traditionally been seeing a very high voting percentage in the previous elections, which is reflective of people’s faith in the electoral process.Even if some people are feeling negative about it, we are trying to create awareness about making each vote count and taking some confidence building measures, he said.Asked about the security arrangements for the polls, Jha said over 200 companies of paramilitary forces have been allocated to the state.
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