Poll violence: Blasts in Mnp, 2 ITBP men injured

Correspondent
Poll related violence in Manipur continue unabated as rwo Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel on election duty in Manipur sustained injuries in an IED blast in the Kakching district on Sunday.
According to police, the incident took place at around 9 p.m. along the Imphal-Sugnu road in the Wangoo area when the ITBP personnel were on routine patrol duty.
The injured ITBP personnel have been taken to a private hospital in Kakching district headquarters.
A senior police officer of the Kakching district said the security measures have been stepped up in the aftermath of the incident. The district SP along with other police officers were rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.
Elections in Manipur will be held in two phases, on February 28 and March 5. Kakching district will go to the polls in the second phase.
In another incident, a powerful blast destroyed a polling booth of an NPP candidate, and in a separate incident, a youth was badly beaten up allegedly by supporters of a political party.
The blast took place at one of the camps of the NPP candidate of Khurai As¬sembly constituency at Moi-rangkampu around 11 p.m. on Saturday.
There was no casu¬alty or injury reported as the blast took place when no one was inside the camp. The impact of the blast, however, completely destroyed the camp and partly damaged a build¬ing of the local youth club located nearby.
According to locals, miscreants took advantage of the absence of party workers and triggered the blast. Saturday’s blast was the third incident where miscre¬ants have targeted the camps of the NPP candidate.
NPP lodges complaint: Meanwhile, NPP na¬tional president and Megha¬laya chief minister Conrad A Sangma, who expressed concern over rampant poll-related incidents in the state Sunday lodged complaint with the CEO Manipur and Election Commission of India seeking necessary steps to conduct the ensuing poll in the state in a free and fair manner.
Speaking at an elec¬tion rally of his party’s candidate in Imphal East Sunday, Conrad said that he was apprehensive of the ensuing polls being conducted in a free and fearless manner, in the backdrop of unabated violence incidents.
He alleged that NPP candidates and workers were being targeted by armed miscreants across the state.
“Steps should be taken in the best possible way to provide enough security to the candidate to make sure that the upcoming election is conducted without fear and in a free and fair
On the other hand, a youth was badly beaten up by suspected workers of a political party at Heirok constituency on Saturday at around 8.30 p.m.
The injured youth identified as Th Boy Singh alleged that a group of around 30 armed miscreants beat him up at the gate of his house. He alleged the miscreants also pelted stones at his house before he was physi¬cally assaulted.
The victim has also lodged a complaint at Thoubal police station and was admitted to Thoubal district hospital.
Heirok constituency has witnessed series of poll related violence and clashes among political groups.
It may be recalled that in one of the poll related violence, even before the announcement of the poll schedule, a student (younger brother of a Con¬gress worker) lost his life when rival groups shot at him point blank and also leaving his father injured.