The Bharatiya Janata Party’s choice for Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh on Monday won the floor test in the state Assembly, called to prove the BJP-led coalition’s majority in the 60-seat House. The party had the support of 33 legislators in the test.
Singh had taken oath as the first BJP chief minister of Manipur on March 15. When the votes for the 60-seat Assembly elections were counted on March 11, BJP had won 21 seats and the Congress had 28. However, the Congress, which had ruled the state under Okram Ibobi Singh for 15 years, did not manage to cobble together an alliance to get the requisite 31 seats to form government.
The BJP formed the government claiming support from 33 legislators, which included MLAs from the National People’s Party, Naga People’s Front and Lok Janshakti Party, an independent MLA, a Trinamool Congress MLA, and Congress MLA Shyam Kumar who defected to join the BJP.
Before the trust vote, the BJP moved 17 of its 21 MLAs to a hotel in Guwahati. Meanwhile, 27 of the Congress MLAs have been camping at a house in Imphal.
On Sunday, the indefinite economic blockade that had been imposed in Manipur by the United Naga Council in November 2016 was lifted after council members met officials from the Centre and the BJP-led state government.
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