Shillong, Mar 11: BJP in Manipur has made a clean sweep of the elections to 60-member 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly, the results for which were declared on Thursday. BJP won a mammoth 32 seats, well over the required 31 seats to form the government. Thus, not only emerging as the single largest party but also not requiring any support from its previous coalition partners to return to power.
Elections to the 60-member house were held in two phases on February 28 and March 5.
Following at second place but at quite a distance is the National People’s Party (NPP) that won 7 seats. While the number may not look impressive because BJP doesn’t need its previous coalition partner to form the government, NPP has made impressive improvement by increasing its number to 7 seats from the previous 4 seats in 2017. And this is for a party that is little over 8 years old and is already recognized a national party, with its headquarters in Shillong in Meghalaya.
NPP’s Mayanglambam Rameshwar Singh won from the Kakching constituency, Sheikh Noorul Hassan from Khetrigao, Thongam Shanti Singh from Moirang, Irengbam Nalini Devi from Oinam, N. Kayisii from Tadubi, Janghemlung Panmei from Tamenglong, and Khuraijam Loken Singh from Wangoi.
However, the biggest surprise was the Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] which emerged as the dark horse by winning an impressive 6 seats. This time it opened its account in over 2 decades. The party had last won a seat in Manipur in the 2000 Assembly polls and did not even field a candidate in 2017.
Indian National Congress (INC), on the other hand, has secured just 5 seats, an abysmal performance in comparison to the 28 seats it won in 2017 Assembly elections. This could be attributed to the spate of resignations and leaders switching to other parties before the elections, which crippled the grand old party.
Kuki People’s Alliance (KPA), contesting its first assembly election, won 2 seats. Naga Peoples Front (NPF) won 5 seats, improving its tally by one seat from 4 seats in 2017.
At the same time, 3 seats were also won by Independent candidates. Karong seat was won by J Kumo Sha, Keisamthong seat was won by Sapam Nishikant Singh and Saitu was won by Haokholet Kipgen, all Independent candidates.
Final seats tally
BJP – 32
NPP – 7
JD(U) – 6
INC – 5
NPF – 5
KPA – 2
Independents – 3
