Manipur Election 2017: Gunmen attack BJP candidate’s polling office in Wangkhei

Imphal: Poll related violence are steaming up in Manipur with only two days left for the first phase Manipur polls.

Unidentified gunmen on Thursday attacked the polling office of BJP in Wangkhei Assembly Constituency by firing three rounds of gun shots. No casualty reported, police sources said.

The incident took place at Wangkhei Angom Leikai under Prompat PS in Imphal east in the wee hours of Thursday morning at about 4.45 am.

Former Minister Yumkham Erabot Singh is contesting from the Wangkhei Assembly Constituency in BJP ticket.

Representational image. Reuters

Strongly denouncing the attack, Kh Binashwari Devi, Secretary of Woman Social Welfare Association, Wangkhei Angom Leikai, said that such violent activities are a threat to the voters who wish to choose their right candidates in a free and fair manner.

She expressed her suspicions of Congress involvement in the attack. Earlier, some unknown persons also attacked the house of a BJP supporter at Wangkhei by pelting stones.

Meanwhile, a local woman Meira Paibis on Thursday staged protest against a bomb being placed at the office of Sagolband Development Association.

On Wednesday, some Congress workers including a Muslim priest in Mayang Imphal were reportedly beaten by BJP workers when Congress workers were on their way to home after attending Rahul Gandhi’s election campaign rally in Imphal.

Muslim religious clerics strongly condemned the act demanding BJP leaders’ action against those BJP workers.

Md Nasir Ali, an injured Congress worker in the incident narrated that four of them including Moulubi Sikandar Ali were on their way home in a Bolero from the living quarters of state Education Minister, a Congress MLA from Mayang Imphal constituency, as they missed any public transporter vehicle after the rally. Some BJP workers blocked their way at Phakchao area questioning them of supporting Congress and they were physically assaulted by said workers.

The Congress workers escaped the attack after some locals approached the incident site hearing their pleas for help. The injured priest in the alleged physical assault Sikandar Ali condemned BJP, calling it a Hindu fanatic political party for attacking a Muslim religious cleric.