Express News Service
GUWAHATI: The National People’s Party (NPP) is fast growing in Manipur at the expense of the Congress, reducing it to a mere shadow of its glorious past.
Born in Manipur and raised in Meghalaya, the NPP emerged as the second-largest party after the BJP. It not only won more seats but its vote share was also more than that of the Congress.
The Congress contested in 53 seats and won five, registering a vote share of 16.83%. In contrast, the NPP bagged seven of the 38 seats it contested and had a 17.29% vote share.
In a state with a diverse population, the Congress got wiped out in the tribal-majority hills which have 20 seats. The remaining 40 seats are in the Imphal Valley.
The Nagas and the Kukis are in a large majority in nine seats each in the hills. The remaining two others have mixed populations. For decades, the Congress had won a large number of seats in the hills. It failed to even open its account this election.
In the 2017 polls, the Congress had won nine of its 28 seats in the hills. The BJP, which was then trying to strengthen its base in the state, had won five. Four of the remaining six seats went to the Naga People’s Front (NPF) and two to the NPP.
In this election, BJP won six, NPF five, Independent three, JD-U two, Kuki People’s Alliance two besides the two by the NPP in the hills.
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The NPP also bagged five seats in the valley. In six others, it lost by a margin of fewer than 1,000 votes – 394 in Konthoujam, 400 in Lamsang, 531 in Naoriya Pakhanglakpa, 632 in Yaiskul, 751 in Thanlon and 909 in Uripok.
In the last election, the NPP had contested in just nine seats but managed to win four. The BJP, which had won 21 seats against the Congress’ 28, managed to form a coalition government with support from the NPP and other smaller parties.
The BJP had rewarded the NPP by inducting all its four MLAs into the ministry with one, Yumnam Joykumar Singh who is a former director-general of police, being appointed as the deputy chief minister. But in due course, the two parties fell apart.
Buoyed by the success of 2017, the NPP, which is led by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and which heads the state’s coalition government, had contested in 38 seats this Manipur election.
The BJP will form a coalition government in Manipur respecting “coalition dharma” but minus the NPP. In a region where the defection of opposition MLAs to the ruling party is common, the NPP’s immediate challenge will be to keep its flocks together.
Over the years, the hills in Manipur have not developed on a par with the valley due to alleged negligence and discrimination of the Congress when it was in power. The BJP tried to bridge the gap between the hills and the valley with various initiatives, one of them being “Go to Hills”.
Imphal-based senior journalist Brozendra Ningomba said the Congress had faltered statewide as most of its winnable candidates jumped ship and contested the polls on the tickets of other parties, including the NPP. Others say the Congress lacked leaders in the stature of the veteran former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh.
