544 instead of 543: why the election schedule shows one additional constituency

In General Elections 2024, Outer Manipur constituency will vote twice due to ethnic violence, with special voting arrangements.

In the General Elections 2024, one Parliamentary constituency will have the distinction of going to the polls twice.

When the Election Commission announced the dates for the General Election on March 16, it was noticed that the number of constituencies added up to 544 instead of tallying with the 543 Lok Sabha seats. However, this did not mean that any new constituency had been added. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar explained that this was due to the special situation in the Outer Manipur constituency.

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Elections for 543 Lok Sabha constituencies will be held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1. While every constituency gets to choose its Member of Parliament on a single given day, Outer Manipur constituency alone will have elections on two days. This is done taking into consideration the recent ethnic violence in the north-eastern State.

While Inner Manipur will be voting on April 19, outer Manipur will vote on two dates: April 19 and April 26.

The districts of Churachandpur, and Chandel are part of the phase 1 polling. It may be recalled that both the districts witnessed violence between Kukis and Meiteis.

Polling will be held on April 19 for the 15 Assembly segments falling under Outer Manipur parliamentary constituency. This includes Heirok, Wangjing Tentha, Khangabok, Wabgai, Kakching, Hiyanglam, Sugnoo, Chandel (ST), Saikul (ST), Kangpokpi, Saitu (ST), Henglep (ST), Churachandpur (ST), Saikot (ST), and Singhat (ST).