Imphal, March 19: As part of the ongoing exercise to ensure the smooth conduct of elections for the 14th Lok Sabha for which Manipur will go to polls on April 20 and 26, a meeting of Deputy Commissioners (DC) and Superintendents of Police (SP) of all the nine districts was held today at the Conference Hall of Old Secretariat.

Presided by the Chief Electoral Officer V Chibber (IAS), the meeting deliberated on 19 agenda including identification of sensitive and hyper-sensitive polling stations.

Issues like use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and helicopter services to deliver the EVMs to remote areas also featured during the meeting.

Acknowledging difficult terrain and presence of disruptive elements in interior areas of Chandel, Churachandpur, Senapati and Tamenglong districts, the CEO assured that adequate measures like use of helicopter to ferry polling personnel and EVMs would be chalked out with the authorities concerned.

Indispensability of using helicopters to reach polling stations in Jiribam sub-division was also discussed and approved during the meeting.

While the Senapati DC pointed out that some polling stations would be sensitive Tamenglong district SP urged for provision of additional security force personnel for poll duty at Tousem sub-division polling stations as well as at Kaimai, Oinamlong and Kaiphundai.