Imphal: On Tuesday, Manipur’s newly elected Congress candidates, Dr. Angomcha Bimol Akoijam and Alfred Kang-ngam Shangshakwoshi Arthur, took their solemn oaths as Members of the 18th Lok Sabha at its first session, which began on June 24. The oath ceremony was administered by the Speaker pro tem, Bhartruhari Mahtab.
Dr. Bimol Akoijam took his oath in Manipuri (Meiteilon), one of the 23 listed multilingual options for oath-taking, while Alfred Arthur took his oath in English, adorned in a Tāngkhul tribe’s Haorā shawl.
A known critic of the ruling saffron party for its handling of the ongoing violent ethnic clashes in Manipur, Dr. Bimol Akoijam won the Inner Manipur Parliamentary seat with a historic margin of over one lakh votes against BJP candidate and current Education Minister Th. Basanta Kumar Singh under the Biren Singh government. Dr. Akoijam received 3,74,017 votes, while Basantakumar Singh garnered 2,64,216 votes.
In the Outer Manipur (ST) Parliamentary constituency, Alfred K. S. Arthur secured victory by defeating his nearest rival, NPF candidate Kachui Timothy Zimik, by a margin of 83,438 votes.
Fifty-eight-year-old Dr. Bimol Akoijam, who holds an MA and PhD in Psychology, teaches at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems in JNU’s School of Social Sciences. He has also taught at Delhi University and the think-tank Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. After his victory, he stated that people had sent a clear message to those trying to destroy Manipur and those who have allowed the violence to continue, emphasizing that they cannot be taken for granted.
Arthur, a former member of the Manipur Legislative Assembly, is known for his in-depth knowledge of the state’s current unrest. He is notably the fourth Member of Parliament from the Tangkhul community. With agency inputs
