New Delhi: The Congress won two seats, including the prestigious Thoubal, and was leading in 18 seats in Manipur, while the BJP was ahead in 14 seats as results of the assembly elections came in. The National People's Party and the Lok Janshakti Party bagged one each out of the four results declared in the Manipur assembly polls so far.
Here are the live updates: - With 18 seats, Congress leading in the state
- BJP leading in 8 seats in 60-member Assembly, followed by ruling Congress in 4 seats, as per early trends.
- BJP ahead in 14 seats
- Congress ahead in 6 seats
- Congress ahead in 3 seats
- Counting of votes to begin at 8 am.
Out of 49 constituencies for which trends were available, the Congress was leading in 18, and the BJP in 14, while the Left was ahead in four.
Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh of the Congress won in Thoubal constituency, defeating rights activist and PRJA party nominee Irom Sharmila, who got fewer than 100 votes.
The three-time Chief Minister won comfortably with over 15,000 votes. Leitanthem Basanta Singh of BJP came second in the votes.
The entire northeastern region, like other parts of the country, is in the grip of a massive BJP wave, the party's National General Secretary Ram Madhav said here on Friday, adding the BJP will form the government in Manipur on Saturday and in Tripura next year. "Like all parts of India, a BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) wave has gripped the entire northeastern region. People want BJP government everywhere for good governance," Ram Madhav said while addressing a mammoth gathering here in Left-ruled Tripura. He said: "BJP governments have been installed in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, the party is a part of the Nagaland government and it would wrest power in Manipur on Saturday, after the counting of votes. The BJP will also come to power in Tripura next year after voting out the Left parties." He claimed that the BJP would come to power in Tripura in the 2018 assembly elections as the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist)-led Left Front government had failed in every sphere and other opposition parties had been unsuccessful in dislodging the Left parties from power. "We would field candidates in all the 60 assembly constituencies to fight against the Left parties. Once a BJP government comes to power in Tripura, unemployment in the state will make way for industrialisation," the BJP leader added. "During the 24-year rule of Left parties, unemployment and poverty has increased. No industrial activity has taken place here despite Tripura being a power-surplus state. The Left government misused the central funds and made only the party prosperous," said Ram Madhav, who is the party's in-charge of northeastern states and Jammu and Kashmir. BJP leaders earlier announced that Friday's rally was being organised in protest against the murder of the party's village committee member Chanmohan Tripura last year and to demand a CBI probe into the killing, but all the speakers dwelt upon the party's prospects to come to power in Tripura. Friday's gathering galvanised the local BJP leaders, who claimed that such an enormous crowd had never gathered in the party's rallies in Tripura. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, echoing other BJP leaders, claimed that the party would come to power in Tripura in next year's assembly elections. (With inputs from agencies)
