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Cong, FPM in neck-and-neck race in Manipur, voters punish party-hoppers

G Vinayak in Imphal

Taking a serious view of the frequent party hopping by their elected representatives, voters in Manipur have ensured the defeat of at least 19 sitting MLAs.

However, they have once again denied a clear majority to any party with the Congress and the Federal Party of Manipur in a neck-and-neck race to become the single largest party in the 60-member House.

Out of the 50 results declared so far, the Congress has bagged 14 seats and the FPM 12.

Ironically, FPM leader and former deputy chief minister Chandramani Singh has lost his seat.

The Congress suffered a serious back after three-time chief minister Rishang Keishing was defeated by his nearest FPM rival K Somi in Phungyar.

The BJP and Samata, the two parties seen as the main villains in the territorial issue impasse, have been left far behind with four and two seats respectively.

The CPI and the Manipur State Congress Party (MSCP), led by MP and former Union minister Th Chouba Singh, have bagged four and five seats respectively.

The other seats have gone to the MPP, NCP, DRPP and the MNC.

Results for the remaining 16 seats are not likely to come in soon as a repoll had been held in many of them on Sunday.

Congress is hoping to bag a major share of these seats, most of them in the five hills districts.

Voters in Manipur, angry with party-hopping politicians, have shown the door to at least 19 sitting MLAs.

The biggest upset was the defeat of Radha Binod Koijam, who had become chief minister for a brief three-month period in 2001. Koijam lost his Thangmeiband seat to Bharot Singh of the BJP by over 1600 votes.

Koijam was a Congressman all his life till he defected to the Samata Party in late 2000 with 11 of the 12 Congress MLAs and became chief minister with the support of the BJP, which had also swelled its ranks from six MLAs to 26 through defections.

Both the parties contested the poll separately and neither could make much of an impact on the voters.

Former speaker Dhananjoy Singh, largely seen as the man responsible for the political instability that gripped Manipur last year, was defeated in Thangjou.

Another former chief minister W Nipamacha Singh also ended up on the losing side.

Latest party position is as follows:
Total seats declared: 51
Congress: 14
FPM 12
MSCP: 6
BJP: 4
CPI: 5
MPP: 2
DRPP: 2
NCP: 3
MNC: 1
Samata: 2

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