The Election Commission on Monday notified that the cadres of Kuki terrorist groups who signed Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with both the Centre and the Manipur government will cast their votes in postal ballots.
However, the cadres can vote only if their names feature in the voter’s list and they reside in designated camps, according to reports.
They would have to collect the postal ballots from assistant nodal officers or nodal officers.
The SoO agreement was first signed by the Manipur government and the Centre with two major Kuki terrorist groups in 2008.
These terrorist groups include the Kuki National Organization (KNO) and United People’s Front (UPF).
The agreement was signed to ensure peace in Kuki dominated areas of Manipur and to stop counter insurgency operations against Kuki militants in the state.
The agreement has been renewed periodically after it was first signed in 2008.
Many cadres of the KNO and the UPF are currently putting up at designated camps set by the government in different Kuki dominated areas of Manipur.
As per reports, KNO represented 11 Kuki militant outfits while UPF represented eight or other Kuki militant groups.
Manipur, which has two parliamentary constituencies – Inner and Outer, will go to polls on April 11 and 18 respectively.
There will be a total of 2,862 polling stations in the state this time. Out of these, 282 including 227 polling stations in Outer Manipur LS constituency and 56 polling stations in Inner Manipur LS constituency are critical and 225 including 171 in Outer Manipur LS constituency and 54 in Inner Manipur LS constituency are ‘vulnerable’.