New Delhi: The campaigning in Manipur for the first phase of the Assembly elections ended on Tuesday. The elections in all 19 Assembly segments in the state are slated to be held on February 8.
The election campaigning was lackluster to say the least with the only major public rallies being those addressed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday.
Sonia Gandhi had on Monday categorically stated that the Congress would not allow any changes in Manipur's territorial integrity.
Addressing an election rally at Thoubal constituency, she said that the government was 'seriously and genuinely' considering the recommendations of the Jeevan Reddy Committee on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958.
The AFSPA gives special powers to the security forces. She said the Act had already been withdrawn from seven Assembly constituencies in Imphal municipal area.
Gandhi said normal life in the state is affected because of activities of underground militants, and added that she was aware that people are against this.
The UPA chairperson's assurance on the territorial integrity of Manipur comes in the backdrop of the demand by the NSCN (IM) outfit for the integration of all the Naga-dominated areas in the region into a greater Nagalim.
The Centre has been engaged in a long-drawn process of negotiation with the Naga militant outfit for more than a decade now ever since the government signed a ceasefire pact with the outfit.
The first phase of the polls will decide the fate of several prominent leaders including Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh, Speaker Manir Udin Sheikh, former Finance minister Chungkhokai Doungel, chairman of the Planning and Development Authority K Ranjit, all belonging to Congress.
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