Imphal: Former Speaker and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yumnam Khemchand Singh will be sworn in as the 14th new Chief Minister of Manipur on Wednesday, bringing an end to the year-long suspension of the Manipur Legislative Assembly that has been in place since February 13, 2025.
The state had been under President’s Rule following the resignation of then Chief Minister Nongtombam Biren Singh on February 9, amid mounting political pressure and internal dissent within the ruling party.
The BJP on Tuesday unanimously elected Yumnam Khemchand Singh, MLA from the Singjamei Assembly constituency, as its legislature party leader in Manipur. His elevation was finalised after a crucial meeting in New Delhi attended by BJP leaders and alliance partners, including the National People’s Party (NPP) and the Naga People’s Front (NPF). The meeting was chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Manipur has remained deeply scarred by ethnic violence that erupted on May 3, 2023, a crisis that has claimed hundreds of lives and displaced thousands. Many of the affected continue to live in government-funded relief camps across various districts. The prolonged unrest, coupled with growing demands for accountability, intensified divisions within the BJP and ultimately led to Biren Singh’s resignation.
A seasoned legislator and a former Minister, Yumnam Khemchand Singh is also known for his long association with sports. A taekwondo practitioner holding a Fourth Dan black belt, he was first elected Speaker of the Manipur Legislative Assembly in 2017.
Khemchand’s political journey began in 2012. In his previous electoral outing, he had contested on a Trinamool Congress ticket from Singjamei and narrowly lost by just 157 votes. He later joined the BJP and developed close ties with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), regularly attending shakhas in the state. The political tide turned in his favour in the subsequent election, when he defeated Congress heavyweight Hemochandra Singh by a margin of over 1,800 votes. The mandate reflected public anger against what he described as the Congress party’s 15-year rule, marked by “misgovernance and corruption, the TOI quoted Khemchand as saying.
He drew widespread attention on December 8 last year when he became the first Meitei MLA to visit relief camps housing internally displaced members of the Kuki community in Ukhrul’s Litan and Chassad areas of Kamjong district—an act seen as a rare gesture of outreach amid deep ethnic divisions.
Earlier on Monday, the BJP parliamentary board appointed party national general secretary Tarun Chugh as the central observer for the election of the Manipur BJP legislature party leader, paving the way for the leadership transition.
With Khemchand set to take charge, expectations are high that the new government will work towards restoring political stability and healing the social fractures that have gripped Manipur over the past two years. (With agency inputs)
