Newmai News Network
Imphal: INDIA bloc sponsored Congress candidates won both the parliamentary seats in Manipur which the counting of votes concluded late on Wednesday.
Both the Congress candidates – Prof Dr Angomcha Bimol Akoijam and Alfred Kangam Arthur – defeated their nearest rival candidates of ruling BJP and NPF respectively by huge margins.
Dr Akoijam clinched the Inner Manipur Parliamentary seat with a record-breaking margin of over one lakh votes, surpassing previous electoral records set in Manipur.
He defeated his nearest rival and BJP candidate and also Manipur Education minister Th Basantakumar by a margin of 1,09,801 votes.
In the Outer Manipur (ST) Parliamentary constituency also, Congress candidate Alfred K Arthur emerged victorious by defeating his nearest rival NPF candidate Kachui Timothy Zimik by a margin of 83,438 votes.
As per the Election Commission of India (ECI) data, Dr Akoijam of the Congress secured a staggering 3,74,017 votes while his closest rival, Th Basantakumar Singh of the BJP, trailed behind with 2,64,216 votes.
Maheshwar Thounaojam of the Republican Party of India (Athawale) secured 135,640 votes, Rajkumar Somendro Singh (Independent) received 13,050 votes, Moirangthem Totomshana Nongshaba secured 4,881 votes and Haorungbam Sarat Singh (Independent) garnered 1,296 votes. A total of 3,797 votes went to NOTA.
In this constituency, the ruling BJP candidate secured the highest votes in Keirao and Heingang (chief minister N Biren Singh’s home constituency) constituencies while the party candidate could not secure much votes from other constituencies represented by BJP MLAs.
In the Outer Manipur (ST) Parliamentary constituency, Congress candidate Alfred K Arthur of INC secured 381,796 votes while his nearest rival Kachui Timothy Zimik of the NPF received 298,358 votes.
Independent candidate S Kho John garnered 89,677 votes, while Alyson Abonmai who also contested as an independent candidate, received 14,864 votes. NOTA accounted for 6,530 votes in this constituency.
The BJP extended its support to the candidate of its ruling partner NPF.
In the violence-hit Manipur, the counting votes were conducted at headquarters of 11 districts with a three-layer security cordon.
No untoward incident related to the vote reported from any part of the state till at the time of filing this report.
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Meanwhile, with the Congress registering a historic win in both the parliamentary seats in Manipur, Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president K Meghachandra alleged that the BJP-led government’s failure in all fronts was behind his party’s triumph.
“The landslide victory of the Congress candidates in Manipur was brought by the failure of the double-engine government in the state as well as at the Centre”, Meghachandra said.
Talking to reporters at Congress Bhavan here where the party celebrated the victory, the MPCC chief said that negligence on the part of the BJP-led government on the unrest in Manipur has led the people to support the grand old party.
“The poll results showed that the people of the state have their trust in the Congress and the party appreciated the people for the clear mandate given to the party,” he added.
The MPCC chief also said that Manipur has been under unrest for more than a year since the ethnic violence erupted on May 3 last year.
“Even as the people of all sections of the society are at the limit of their woes due to the prolonged crisis arising out of ethnic violence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to remain quiet,” Meghachandra added.
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