Imphal: As the countdown to the vote-counting of the 60-seat Manipur Assembly begins, major political parties are hoping the people’s mandate in their respective favours.
The ruling BJP has the high hope of the party getting an absolute majority to form the next government of its own, while the Congress is still hoping to emerge as the single largest party and form a coalition government.
The NPP still said that they will take a key role in the formation of the next government while asserting that the party will secure more than 20 seats.
In an interview with a local TV network, BJP Manipur Pradesh president, A Sarda Devi said that the party was still standing by its hope of securing 40+ seats.
“We are confident of winning 40+ seats and will form a stable government which will bring about peace and development in the state,” she said.
She claimed that the party received overwhelming support from the people during the election as they were impressed with the changes that were brought about by the BJP-led coalition government.
Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president, N Loken told a local TV channel that the recently concluded two-phase elections to the state Assembly was by and large not a free and fair elections.
Earlier, the Congress expected getting an absolute majority. However, it will not happen as the elections were not held in a free and fair manner, he said.
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At the same time, he said that the party has initiated talks with leaders of like-minded political parties to form the next government.
To mention here, four top leaders of the AICC had already arrived in the state ahead of the counting date as observers of the post-poll.
The Congress, to mention here, had fought the polls with a pre-poll alliance with five left-wing parties – the CPI, CPI(M), Forward Block, RJD and JD(S).
However, except CPI, no other parties in the alliance fielded candidates in the elections. The CPI had also fielded only two candidates.
The NPP too is expecting double-digit numbers against four seats it had secured in the last general elections to the state Assembly and to take a major role in the formation of the next government.
Working president of NPP state unit, L Jayentakumar said that the party is expecting to win 15 to 20 seats and like other parties in the fray, it has also started home work for formation of the next government.
According to the state NPP leader, no party will get an absolute majority and the next government to be formed after the election results will be a coalition government and the NPP will take a major role.
The counting of votes to declare the fates of 265 candidates will be held on Thursday, starting from 8 am.
The ruling BJP has fielded candidates in all the 60 seats, Congress in 53, NPP and JD(U) in 38 seats each, NPF in 10 seats, RPI (A) and Shiv Sena in nine each, NCP in eight seats among others.
A total of 30 independent candidates are also in the fray.
All the counting processes are expected to be completed by late evening.
NNN
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