2017 Manipur Legislative Assembly election

A Legislative Assembly election was held in Manipur on 4 March and 8 March 2017 to elect the 60 members of the Manipur Legislative Assembly.^[1][2] before the expiration of the term of the previous Assembly on 18 March 2017.^[3] The election was fought mainly on the issues of "territorial integrity of Manipur" and the Naga peace accord.^[4] The incumbent Indian National Congress lost majority. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which won 21 seats, formed the government with the support of allies.^[5]

Prior to 2017, Indian National Congress had been in power for 15 years. In the 2012 election, Congress had won 42 seats and re-elected Okram Ibobi Singh as the chief minister.^[6][7] In 2014, the Manipur State Congress Party, with its five Members of Legislative Assembly, merged with Congress, further increasing its tally.^[8]

Despite this apparent strength, the Congress government was beset with problems. In 2015, it yielded to pressures from the Inner Line Permit System movement and passed three bills in the Legislative Assembly to regulate migrants. The tribal communities dubbed them as "anti-tribal bills" and protested. Nine tribals were killed in police firing, and eight bodies were still lying in the morgue as the state went to the polls.^[9]

In 2016, N. Biren Singh, who had been denied a ministerial berth in the Ibobi Singh government, revolted against Ibobi Singh along with 25 other legislators. The Congress high command tried to mollify him, by changing the state unit president, appointing Singh as the vice-president and party spokesperson. But the dissidents again grew unhappy with the home minister's lackadaisical treatment of the NSCN-IM (Naga militant group). In October 2016, Biren Singh resigned from the party as well as the Legislative Assembly, and joined the BJP. He was appointed as the party spokesperson and co-convenor of the election committee.^[9]

In November 2016, the Ibobi Singh government took the decision to create two new districts, Jiribam and Kangpokpi. The latter had been a longstanding demanding of the Kuki-Zo tribals that dominate the region. However, the Nagas were miffed that their ancestral land had been bifurcated, and imposed a blockade along the two highways that lead into the Imphal Valley. This caused a shortage of essential commodities in the Valley and prices shot up.^[10][11]

At the national level, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power along with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners. The BJP had also created North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) in the Northeastern states. Its partners included the National People's Party (NPP), Naga People's Front (NPF), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). and Janata Dal (United).

Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines were used along with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in four assembly constituencies in Manipur.^[12]

Results were declared on 11 March 2017.^[14]

On 15 March 2017, N. Biren Singh was sworn as the Chief Minister, having formed a coalition with National People's Party, Naga People's Front and the Lok Janshakti Party. This marked the first time that the Bharatiya Janata Party has formed a government in Manipur. The Indian National Congress remained the single largest party in the legislature.

• Attri, Vibha; Bhattacharya, Himanshu (2019), "Assembly Elections 2017–2018", Studies in Indian Politics, 7 (1): 100–129, doi:10.1177/2321023019838879
• Phanjoubam, Pradip (25 March 2017), "BJP Snatches Victory from Defeat in Manipur", Economic and Political Weekly, 52 (12): 25–26, JSTOR 44166817

• Manipur election 2017 date Archived 5 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine