Manipur Legislative Assembly secretary M. Ramani issued a bulletin on Wednesday, saying that as the resignation of Congress MLA Govindas Konthoujam has been accepted, his Bishnupur constituency is vacant. In the past few years, she had issued bulletins on the vacancy of other constituencies. There are 60 seats in the Assembly.
The vacant seats are Andro, Lamalai, Naoriya Pakhanglakpa, Kumbi, Tamenglong, Henglep and Bishnupur.
In the case of Wangkhei, the Supreme Court has ordered that Y. Erabot is the MLA. Okram Henry, who had been the MLA in this constituency had resigned to become a Minister in the BJP-led coalition government. However, as no election was held within the mandatory six months, he was unseated.
Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee interim president N.Loken said, “I have been trying all these days to talk with Mr. Konthoujam over the phone since his whereabouts are not known. But all the three phones are on switch- off mode. He had stated that he was resigning for personal reasons”.
Referring to social media reports that about seven Congress MLAs may follow Mr. Konthoujam, he stated that they had no basis.
Speculations are that there may be a reshuffle of the Ministry to accommodate some of those who had resigned from the Congress.
Besides, the Supreme Court is likely to declare its verdict on August 3 when the hearing on the 12 parliamentary secretary cases resume. The court had deferred the declaration of the verdict last week.
While Congress leaders, including Bhakta Charan Das, are very hopeful that they will be disqualified, Chief Minister N. Biren has said his ministry shall not be rocked as the Governor had to undertake a long process.
