Manipur gears up for elections amidst chaos
The Congress has, for the first time, dropped its party members for the ticket and roped in a rank outsider.
The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) govt in Manipur led by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh has been expanded on Saturday with the induction of six more ministers into the cabinet. They took the oath of office in a swearing-in ceremony held at Raj Bhavan.
H. Dingo Singh, Letpao Haokip, Dr Sapam Ranjan Singh, Th Basanta Singh and L Susindro Meiteo from BJP and Khasim Vashum from the ally Naga People’s Front (NPF) were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Manipur Governor La Ganesan.
The Manipur cabinet can have a maximum of 12 Ministers including the Chief Minister. Now BJP has 10 ministers and its partner ally NPF has two. Former Minister Nemcha Kipgen is the only woman minister in the Biren Singh council of ministry.
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Earlier on March 21, besides the Chief Minister, four BJP MLAs Thongam Biswajit Singh, Yumnam Khemchand Singh, Govindas Konthoujam, Nemcha Kipgen and Awangbow Newmai of NPF had taken the oath of office and secrecy.
In the recent assembly election, BJP had secured a thin majority of 32 seats in the 60-member state assembly.
The BJP’s erstwhile ally the National People’s Party, secured seven seats while the Janata Dal (United) won six seats, and the Congress and the Naga People Front bagged five seats each in the recent elections.
The Kuki People’s Alliance, a newly floated tribal-based party, managed two seats while three independent candidates also got elected to the Assembly.
The NPF, the JD(U) and two independent members have announced their support for the BJP government.
(With inputs from IANS)
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