Manipur political activity picks up amid possible cabinet expansion

Guwahati: Political activity has picked up in Manipur as former Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh and an MLA are in New Delhi where they are likely to meet senior party leaders to discuss a possible cabinet expansion.

Manipur will go to assembly polls early next year and ethnic violence which broke out on May 3, 2023, is still unceasing.

Singh told reporters at the Imphal airport on Sunday that he was heading to the national capital. BJP MLA from Thangmeiband, K Joykishan Singh has also gone to New Delhi.


A senior BJP leader who does not want to be named told ET, “Senior party leaders are likely to discuss a possible expansion of the state cabinet and the prevailing situation in Manipur.”

Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh assumed office on February 4. On February 5, the Khemchand-led NDA government in Manipur won the floor test in the Manipur assembly.

On March 4, the chief minister allocated portfolios among the two Deputy Chief Ministers and two Cabinet Ministers, retaining most key departments with himself.

Chief Minister Khemchand Singh, Nemcha Kipgen and Konthoujam Govindas Singh belong to the BJP, while Losii Dikho and Khuraijam Loken Singh are from the Naga People’s Front (NPF) and the National People’s Party (NPP), respectively. The lone woman minister and BJP MLA Nemcha Kipgen belongs to the Kuki community. The strength of the council of ministers in Manipur is 12.

More than 260 people were killed, over 1,500 injured, and more than 60,000 displaced after ethnic violence broke out between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities on May 3, 2023. The violence erupted after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

Manipur has been under President rule since February 13, 2025, which was revoked in February this year.

CENSUS NRC

Hundreds of students on Monday took out a rally demanding implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Manipur before any census activity is conducted in the state.

Women in large numbers joined the protest in Imphal. The students took out the rally from Tiddim Road in Imphal West district. They held posters and raised slogans that said, “No NRC, No Census.” They also demanded that internally displaced people (IDPs) must return to their original homes before any census activity is taken up.

The protests were held under the aegis of the ‘Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation (JFD) Student Wing’.

The students also called for the government to defer the census exercise until the NRC is conducted, citing concerns over citizenship identification and demographic changes in the state.

The house-listing phase of Census 2027 is scheduled to begin with self-enumeration from August 17. The main house-listing operations are scheduled from September 1 to September 30 this year.

JDF on Sunday escalated protests across key areas of Manipur to demand the update of the NRC before the census. As part of the agitation, torch rallies were staged at several locations across the state on Sunday night.

Three protesters were injured after police fired tear gas shells to disperse demonstrators in Manipur on Sunday, according to members of the Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation (JFD) Students’ Wing.