THOUBAL (MANIPUR), March 3 - With Manipur going to the poll tomorrow, all eyes are on Thoubal Assembly constituency where activist-turned-politician Irom Sharmila is contesting against three-time Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh.
Election will be held in the constituency on March 8 in the second of the two-phase poll.
Thoubal constituency, one of the 10 constituencies in Thoubal district, having an electorate of 27,728, has been a Congress bastion and is the backyard of Ibobi Singh, a two-time MLA from the seat since 2007.
Besides being the district which houses the Assembly constituency of the CM, Thoubal has an unofficial tag of being a VIP district as well.
According to residents and Congress leaders, every household in Thoubal constituency has got a job from the Ibobi Government, every household has all basic facilities like drinking water and power supply.
�During regular frisking at various checkpoints, the State police handles a person with care if he says he is from Thoubal. In Thoubal, the fight is not about whether Ibobi Singh wins or loses, the fight is to increase the 2012 margin,� a district Congress leader asserted.
Ibobi Singh had won the seat by a margin of more than 16,000 votes by defeating his nearest BJP rival in 2012. The general sentiment in the air is that Ibobi Singh is not only invincible in Thoubal constituency but also in the rest of the nine seats in the district.
Apart from the candidates of TMC, BJP and an independent, the constituency will also witness Irom Sharmila debuting in electoral politics as a candidate of her newly formed party Peoples� Resurgence and Justice Alliance (PRJA).
