IMPHAL, April 17: The United Revolutionary Front (URF) Manipur today questioned on the status of citizenship of its cadres while lamenting on the failure of the Government to facilitate voting rights to its cadres when fellow UG groups under the SoO were allowed to during the outer election.
The URF is a constituent group of several KCP factions who have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state and the central Government.
Speaking to media at its temporary designated camp located at Loitang Khunou Spining Mill, Puyam Ruhini, home secretary of URF Manipur, the CEO of Manipur had earlier announced to allow the militant groups to cast their vote through postal ballot at their respective camps however the plan was changed very recently.
As a change of plan the CEO cancelled the postal ballot system and suggested the cadres to cast their vote at their respective polling stations with security arrangement.
He pointed out that URF did not receive any official intimation regarding the change of plan from the election office. The URF came to know of the plan through newspapers, said Ruhini.
Contending that some of the cadres hail from far flung areas like Moreh, Jiribam, Churachandpur etc, how can the cadre manage to visit their polling station at such quick notice. Moreover, a severe threat from CorCom looms large against the leaders of the militant groups under MoU, he continued.
Amidst such situation it was not possible for them to venture out alone to cast their vote without the assistance of the authority concerned, he asserted.
Meanwhile the URF leader, construed the act as an act to further create a division within hills and valley by allowing the Hills based SoO groups to exercise their franchise and depriving the right of the valley base militant.
There total 540 cadres and leader under MoU out of which 147 cadres are within the URF constituent.