Manipur Assembly elections 2017: All you need to know

In the 2012 Manipur assembly polls, Congress won 42 seats and formed the government.

Election for the 60 seat Manipur Assembly are set to be held in two phases on March 4 and 8. Manipur currently has a Congress government with Okram Ibobi Singh as Chief Minister. Congress won 42 out of the 60 seats in 2012 assembly polls and even in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, both seats were won by Congress. There are 18,07,843 voters listed in the state.

Schedule:

First phase of polling in 38 assembly constituencies:

Notification date: February 8

Last date of nomination: February 15

Scrutiny date: February 16

Last date for withdrawal of candidature: February 18

Polling date: March 4

Second phase of voting for 22 assembly constituencies:

Notification date: February 11

Last date of nomination: February 18

Scrutiny date: February 20

Last date for withdrawal of candidature: February 22

Polling date: March 8.

34 of these 60 seats in Manipur are reserved

Assembly poll of 2012:

In 2012, Congress swept the Manipur assembly polls by7 winning 42 seats and getting 42.42% vote share. Trinamool Congress stood second by winning 7 seats and getting 17 % vote share. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Congress won both the seats. Other parties in the fray were Naga Peoples Front, which won 4 seats, and Manipur State Congress Party, which won 5 seats.

2017 scenario:

Manipur is an insurgency prone state where law and order has always been an issue. Manipur is one of few states in India where AFSPA has been enforced to keep insurgent groups under check.

Irom Sharmila, who went on 16 long years of hunger strike demanding AFSPA's revocation, ended her fast on August 9 and announced that she would contest state elections in Manipur. Sharmila launched a political party named Peoples' Resurgence and Justice Alliance and will contest from two assembly constituencies of Khurai and Khangabok, the home constituency of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh.

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