Six Manipur Congress legislators, who are among the eight who skipped the Assembly session during Monday’s vote of confidence, have tendered their resignation to Speaker Y Khemchand, said party MLA O Henry Singh, according to PTI. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government won the trust vote.
Apart from Henry Singh, the MLAs who have resigned are Paonam Brojen of Wangjing Tentha, Ngamthang Haokip of Saitu, Oinam Lukhoi of Wangoi, Ginsuanhau of Singhat and Md Abdul Nasir of Lilong. The resignation letters have not been accepted yet, Henry Singh said.
The legislators said they have lost trust in the leadership of former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, adding that because of him, the party could not form a government in the state even after being the single-largest party.
Henry Singh said the MLAs were summoned by the Speaker after Monday’s Assembly session and their resignation letters were verified. He added that the legislators will resign from the party membership later in the day.
The 60-member Manipur Assembly currently has a strength of 53 after the resignation of three BJP MLAs and disqualification of four members under the anti-defection law. The ruling coalition has 29 MLAs, including Speaker Y Khemchand, while the Congress has 24.
On July 28, the Congress had submitted a motion of no confidence against the state government. Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who was certain of winning, decided to move a trust vote and retained power.
After the results of the trust vote, Okram Ibobi Singh alleged there had been “poll code violations” and said “democracy was murdered”, NDTV reported. “There is no rule of law in Manipur,” he added. “We are demanding division of vote. They [BJP] don’t like it. Within the ruling party, a lot of people don’t like this government.”
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