Imphal, March 11 (IANS) The ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Manipur are both claiming victory in the state.
The results of the Manipur assembly elections, along with four other states Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand, came out on Saturday. Out of the 60 assembly seats in Manipur, the Congress has emerged as the leading political party with 28 seats while the BJP had secured 21 seats.
The National People’s Party and the Naga People’s Front– both won on 4 seats each while Lok Janshakti Party won on one seat. One seat each was won by an Independent and an All India Trinamool Congress candidate.
BJP spokesperson Nongthombam Biren was confident that despite the numerical superiority of the Congress, his party will form the next ministry and are “already working on it”.
“People had voted against corruption and atrocities on civil population. We are thankful to the people for voting us so,” he said.
After the defeat of the BJP chief ministerial candidate T. Chaoba, he said that the national leaders will select the leader.
Chief Minister Okram Ibobi said: “People have appreciated the developmental works of the last 15 years. They want peace, stability, progress and protection of territorial integrity”.
Nimaichand Luwang of the BJP, who lost to T. Shyamkumar of the Congress, said: “Money power played a decisive role. Besides some cases, there were instances of criminalisation of politics.”
