The Delhi Meitei Coordinating Committee (DMCC), a conglomerate of various Meitei organisations, has written to the Election Commission and the Chief Justice of India to defer the Lok Sabha polls in Manipur because of the prevailing ethnic unrest in that state.

Election to the two parliamentary seats in the state — Inner Manipur and Outer Manipur — will be held on April 19 and 26. Polling in Outer Manipur will be held on both days owing to security reasons.

The DMCC in its petition to the CJI and CEC on April 1 has cited several reasons for the postponement of polls while attaching media reports related to the conflict and law and order issues.

The DMCC, which includes Meitei organisations such as the Delhi Meetei Forum (DMF), Delhi Meitei, Liklam Ngakpa, Sanamahi Laining, Eramdam Manipur, International Meetei Organisation, has stated that the “ongoing ethnic mayhem in Manipur” that started on May 3 last year is “still continuing” causing “immense physical, psychological, economic and political damages to various sections of the people of Manipur”.

The DMCC petition was released to the media on Wednesday, a day which saw a poll panel team land in Imphal to review the state's preparedness to hold the polls. Senior state officials have assured the EC team of their readiness to hold the polls. The team also made field visits.

The DMCC said the ongoing conflict between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zos has officially cost 221 lives of which 101 belonged to the Meiteis, 114 to the Kukis and six from other communities. The economy has been worst affected, many have become jobless and prices of consumer goods have skyrocketed, it said, adding that the Meitei people could not cultivate their paddy field “due to constant attack by Kuki militants”.