Imphal, January 16: A joint meeting of candidates of the Indian National Congress, who will be contesting in the forthcoming elections to the Manipur Legislative Assembly, was held this morning at the Congress Bhavan Imphal in connection with a monetary demand made by a particular underground group to the candidates.

The underground group has reportedly demanded Rs 10,000 each from each candidate of the Congress (I) for the ensuing elections.

The said UG group also reportedly instructed the MPCC president O Ibobi to collect the money from these candidates.

The joint meeting this attended by candidates for all 60 Assembly constituencies and presided by O Ibobi unanimously resolved that monetary demands by the UG group must be dealt with directly by the candidates themselves, rather than through the MPCC president.

In the meantime, the MPCC office at the BT road was running as usual today with extra deployment of security in and around the office complex.

The office was locked up by two unidentified persons yesterday.