BJP to go alone in Manipur polls in March

GUWAHATI: BJP to go alone in the Manipur polls in March this year. The Saffron party will contest all 60 assemblyconstituencies.

In Assam polls last year BJP cobbled a grand alliance of regional to defeat the congress. In distinct shift in strategy BJP wants to contest Manipur polls on its own.

Prahlad Singh Patel, BJP’s in-charge for Manipur told ET, “We will contest all the 60 assembly seats and will go alone in the polls. We are confident that we will put up impressive performance in the state.”

Naga People's Front (NPF) which is the ruling party in Nagaland has substantial supporters in the hill area of Manipur. NPF is the member of NDA floated anti congress platform, Northeast Democratic Alliance (NEDA).

However BJP has not shown any keenness to have poll pact with NPF

Ruling Congress is going to polls alone. Trinamool Congress and Human activist Irom Sharmila led Resurgence and Justice Alliance (PRJA) will contest the two phase polls which be held on March 4 and 8.

A third front, Left Democratic Front Manipur ( LDFM) which consist of CPI, CPIM, NCP, AAP, and JDU will contest the two phase polls on March 4 and 8. The front has announced that it will be anti-congress and anti BJP front.

While hills account for 20 seats, Meitei Hindu dominated plains has 40 assembly seats.

Manipur has elector of 18, 93,743 out of which 9, 25,431 are male electors and 9, 68,312 are female voters.

Chief electoral officer, Vivek Kumar Dewangan said the total number of State’s electors as on January 1, 2017 is 18,93,743 out of which 9,25,431 are male electors and 9,68,312 are female voters.

In Manipur the highest number of voters are in the age group of 20-29 with 5, 04,502 electors constituting 15.27 percent of the total electors.