Manipur polls: Congress forms pre-poll alliance with left parties

In poll-bound Manipur, six political parties including the Congress and left parties have formed a pre-poll alliance. The six-party alliance includes Congress, CPI, CPI(M), RSP, Forward Block and JD(S).

Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee President N Loken said that there is a common understanding between the six political parties. "We will defeat the BJP in the upcoming election," he said.

The former chief minister and senior Congress leader Okram Ibobi Singh said that the name of the alliance is yet to be announced. The alliance will have a common minimum programme, unlike the BJP led alliance in the state.


With the formation of the pre-poll alliance, the Congress party, as well as other partner political parties of the alliance, will not fill any candidate at Khurai Assembly Constituency. In some constituencies, there will be friendly fights as allies have already announced their candidates. Congress has already announced its first list of 40 candidates for this election while the CPI has announced 2 candidates.

The elections to the 60-member Manipur assembly would be held in two phases on February 27 and March 3. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

Khumukhcham Joykisan Singh joined the Janata Dal (United). He was suspended from Congress. Singh announced that he had joined JDU at his residence at Thangmeiband.

In 2015 Joykisan joined BJP from the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and was elected as BJP candidate during the by-poll election in 2015. In 2017 he contested on Congress ticket.