Manipur Election 2022: Polling day, counting day, and all you need to know

Manipur is one of the five states upcoming with assembly elections, along Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand and Punjab. Manipur assembly polls 2022 are to be held in two phases - voting on February 28 and March 5, while the results get declared on March 10.

Earlier, the dates of the poll were announced as February 27 and March, however, the Election Commission of India (ECI) revised the Manipur Assembly election schedule with respect to requests from tribes, political parties, inputs, representations, past precedent, logistics and ground situations.

These state make the second trance of elections to be held in India since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu exercised their right to vote amidst the second coronavirus wave between March-April 2020.

However, the COVID-19 scare isn't over and the recent Omicron and the new NeoCOV have made to the headlines. Thus, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra had informed the political parties and contesting candidates to adapt the digital mode for campaigning.

What does the pre-poll survey have to say? In the recent opinion poll conducted by Zee News in association with a political campaign management company Design Boxed, they tried to measure the mood of the voters ahead of the Assembly elections in these state. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seemed to come back in Manipur with an estimate of about 41% vote share, while Congress is predicted to stay far with 30%.

Talking of the ticket to contest the polls from various constituencies, the Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to contest on all 60 seats and has fielded candidates for all the Assembly seats in Manipur. The present CM N Biren Singh would contest from Heingang constituency in the upcoming Manipur Assembly elections and the party hopes to form a government with more than 2/3rd majority.

However, the Manipur Congress would contest with 40 candidates, the National People's Party with 20 candidates and the Naga People's Front from 10 seats.