Imphal, Feb 14: Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh has vehemently denied the accusation of militant outfits intimidating the people to vote for the ruling BJP, saying that this is a wild allegation.
Singh said this is baseless allegations that the cadres of the militant outfits are threatening the people to vote for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He said that even there was an incident recently in Saikul in the hilly areas where some cadres of the militant outfits which are now under the ‘Suspension of Operation’ agreement with the government had stopped the people from attending a BJP election meeting.
Reiterating his confidence that the BJP would get the two third majorities this time, the Chief Minister said that 29 sitting BJP MLAs are contesting the elections and the prospect of their re-electing is very high and 11 other BJP candidates would win easily.
The National People’s Party (NPP) earlier wrote to the Election Commission demanding adequate security to the candidates as according to the party the militant outfits are intimidating its party workers.
The NPP leaders in Imphal on Sunday said that the ongoing situation is an attempt to jeopardise the conduct of peaceful, free and fair elections in Manipur.
“If the ongoing situation is allowed to prevail, where militant and underground outfits are moving around openly with arms, the electorates will fear and would not come out to vote, which would directly hamper the conduct of elections. Therefore, we at NPP would like to urge the authorities to put all underground groups under ‘suspension of operation’ in their respective camps and recover arms from their possession,” an NPP statement said.
Over 2,000 cadres of the pro-talks militant outfits are under ceasefire agreements with the government and are staying in 14 designated camps in different parts of Manipur.
The BJP, which had bagged 21 seats in the 60-member assembly in 2017, wrested the power for the first time by stitching together a coalition government with the support of four NPP MLAs, four Naga People’s Front (NPF) members, the lone Trinamool Congress MLA and an Independent member.
However, this time the BJP, NPP and the NPF are contesting separately and put-up candidates against each other.
