Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates Thongam Biswajit Singh and Khumukcham Joykishan won the Thongju and Thangmeiband seats respectively, defeating candidates of the ruling Congress, an election official said.
By-elections were held after Assembly Speaker Th. Lokeshwar Singh disqualified All India Trinamool Congress legislators - Thongam Biswajit Singh, Khumukcham Joykishan and Lukhoi Singh - under the anti-defection law on May 28.
In Thangmeiband, Joykishan defeated his nearest rival Jyotin Waikhom by 1,907 votes. An 85 percent voter turnout was recorded in the segment. The former Trinamool Congress legislator polled 12,104 votes, while Waikhom secured 10,197 votes.
In Thongju, which recorded 92 percent voter turnout, Biswajit defeated his nearest rival Bijoy Koijam of the Congress by 3,213 votes. Biswajit secured 14,606 votes and Koijam 11,393 votes. Seventy-eight voters opted for ‘None of The Above’.
“There has been no significant development in the state under Okram Ibobi Singh government. People in both assembly constituencies have rightly rejected the Congress through these by-elections,†Manipur BJP president Th. Chaoba Singh said.
“Although our candidates lost in the by-elections (in Meghalaya and Manipur) by narrow margins, we are deeply concerned. We will soon sit down and analyse our defeat to the BJP, especially in Manipur,†Congress leader V. Narayanasamy said. “We will take all steps to get all secular parties together to prevent communal forces from forming the next government in the north-eastern states,†he said.
BJP in Manipur has been growing slowly and steadily in numbers, since the last Lok Sabha elections, Tuesday’s results in the by-elections saw the party capturing both seats that went to the polls, that is Thangmeiband in the heart of Imphal city and Thongju and have caught many by surprise.
By Premji
