A global umbrella body of civil society organisations of Manipur's Meitei community has asked the Centre and the state government not to press ahead with the census in the border state until all internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned to their original homes.
In a statement, the Meitei Alliance said the enumeration under the prevailing conditions could distort the state's demographic profile, considering thousands of people had been displaced following the outbreak of ethnic violence in May 2023.
The violence had "forcibly altered Manipur's demographic landscape", it said, adding that conducting a census before IDPs returned home would end up with a post-conflict and hence, misleading demographic profile instead of the state's actual population distribution before May 2023.
The Meitei Alliance said census data collected under the current circumstances could have long-term consequences and even legitimise ethnic segregation.
"The Meitei Alliance therefore calls for the safe and dignified return of all IDPs before Census enumeration begins in Manipur. Restore the displaced first. Census thereafter," it said.
The statement comes days after a separate representation submitted to Manipur Chief Electoral Officer Arun Kumar Sinha raised concerns over the integrity of the state's draft electoral roll. The representation had called for scrutiny of voter records in several constituencies, including those in areas categorised as "hills".
Thoudam Jagat Singh, a former member of the Manipur State Planning Authority, in the submission on August 4 alleged that a preliminary examination of electoral rolls in three assembly constituencies indicated there could be issues linked to unverifiable voter records and data inconsistencies.
In his letter, Singh said while the quality of the electoral roll was "the bedrock of free and fair elections", the draft Special Intensive Revision (SIR) roll seemed to have been prepared without adequate verification.
He cited some examples, including different spellings of the same individual's name at different locations within the rolls, vague identifiers, overlapping house numbers and large numbers of voters classified under the category "Others" for relationship status.
The submission said such classifications were not recognised relationship categories under the Election Commission's guidelines, and they weakened the possibility of relationship-based verification. It asked the authorities to form a committee of senior officials and independent experts, including a nominee of the Manipur Population Commission, to examine electors who could not be linked to the 2005 electoral records.
The Meitei-Kuki ethnic violence had displaced over 50,000 people and killed over 250.
Over three years after the ethnic conflict, the National Highway that serves as the state's lifeline was declared open for all communities in an announcement by Chief Minister Y Khemchand Singh and his deputy Nemcha Kipgen.
