The women candidates of the BJP and those of a new ethnicity-based party recorded a victory strike rate of 100% in the Manipur Assembly elections.
The BJP crossed the majority mark with 32 seats in the 60-member House on Thursday.
An unprecedented five women were elected to the Assembly. Three of them are of the BJP and one each of the National People’s Party (NPP) and the Kuki People’s Alliance (KPA).
All three women candidates the BJP had fielded won. They are former Minister Nemcha Kipgen, who retained her Kangpokpi seat; S.S. Olish, who bagged the Chandel seat with the highest margin of 27,341 votes; and Sagolsem Kebi Devi, who secured the Naoriya Pakhanglakpa seat.
While the NPP’s Sagolsem Kebi Devi got the better of her BJP rival by 442 votes in the Oinam constituency, the KPA’s Kimneo Haokip Hangshing won the Saikul seat comfortably.
‘Blessed’ by armed groups
Chinlunthang
The KPA registered a “miraculous” victory in Saikul and Singhat it contested. But rivals said the party was “blessed” by armed groups on suspension of operations (SoO) mode.
Ms. Hangshing is the daughter of Ngamthang Haokip, BJP candidate who lost the Saitu seat to his independent rival, and the wife of David Hangshing, chief of the Kuki Revolutionary Army. The outfit is a member of the umbrella Kuki National Organisation under the SoO.
Chinlunthang, the other KPA victor from Singhat bordering Myanmar, allegedly had the backing of another SoO group called the Kuki National Army, whose overall in charge is T.S. Haokip.
KPA vice-president Chinkholal Thangsing trashed the allegations and attributed his party’s victory to “God’s grace” and the community support. The KPA represents the Kuki tribes and clans.
“Our journey has been nothing short of a miracle. The election commission recognised us on January 17 and we barely got a week’s time to finalise our candidates. Many derided us but it has been a very good start and we hope to become a spark of hope for expansion,” he told The Hindu on Friday.
The KPA, he added, sought to protect the land and culture of the Kuki-Zomi ethnic groups besides pursuing development and coexistence within “ourselves and our neighbours – the Meitei and Naga people”.
