Imphal: In a surprise, yet decisive battle, opposition Congress and India bloc candidates Dr Angomcha Bimol Akoijam and Alfred Kan-Ngam Arthur won both the Inner and Outer Parliamentary constituencies respectively of the 18th Lok Sabha election, with the results declared on Tuesday evening.
The results, on the other hand, sent a chilling effect to the ruling BJP government and party leadership who have been wrestling to survive onslaughts and criticism from different quarters and sections of society after the violence-hit Manipur in May last year.
A teacher at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, Bimol won the Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat after defeating his nearest rival BJP candidate and also Minister of Education, Thounaojam Basanta Kumar, a former police officer, in the Biren Singh-led government by a huge margin of 1,09,801 votes.
Arthur, a former legislator in the Manipur Legislative Assembly, also defeated his nearest NPF/BJP/NPP candidate Kacchui Timothy Zimik, a former IRS officer, by a huge margin of 85,418 votes to claim the Outer Parliamentary constituency.
Interestingly, Arthur is the third Tangkhul who won the Lok Sabha election after 70 years. Rungsung Suisa, also a Tangkhul, won the Lok Sabha election in 1957. The first one was Rishang Keishing, who became the first MP in 1952 to 1957 from the Outer.
The latest report indicated that Bimol bagged at least 3,70,678 votes out of the total voters 7,88,812 at 46.93 per cent, whereas Arthur received 3,80,793 votes out of the total 7,89,793 at 48.21 per cent.
Both Dr Bimol and Arthur have been a favourite candidate for most people as they were looking for alternative candidates to the ruling BJP. Bimol was hand-picked by senior Congress leaders as no other leaders from the grand old party were ready to contest the election and also because of the unrest in the state.
BJP-ruled Manipur has only two Lok Sabha seats – Inner Manipur, which is mostly the valley areas, and the Outer Manipur reserved constituency, which covers nearly all the hill areas.
Six candidates contested the Inner Manipur seat, while four aspirants were in the fray for the Outer Manipur seat, which is dominated by people belonging to the Naga and Kuki-Zomi tribes.
What went wrong for the BJP?
Since the violence began in Manipur last year between two communities – the Meiteis and Kukis – with no end in sight so far, there’s no love lost for the Biren Singh government. People had expected the ruling party both at the Centre and the state, to at least do something to end this unrest to no avail.
The violence has claimed nearly 300 people and thousands are still taking refuge at various relief camps.
The inner Manipur Parliamentary constituency is made up of 32 Assembly constituencies. The constituency went on for the election in the first phase on the 19th of April. There are over 9,91574 lakh voters in the constituency. The voter turnout this year was 80.15 per cent.
Apart from Bimol and Basanta Kumar, there are four more candidates – Moirangthem Tomtomshana Nongshaba (Ind), Haorungbam Sarat Singh (Ind), Rajkumar Somendro (Kaiku) (Ind); Maheshwar Thounaojam (RPI-Athawale).
