Congress emerged as the largest single party with 28 seats in the Manipur state assembly elections of 2017. Yet, it was the BJP that the governor invited to form the government despite only winning 21 seats by itself. It can be credited to the fact that major smaller parties in the fray in Manipur have started to step into their roles as kingmakers. Partnerships with these parties at the right time, or lack thereof, can make or break the electoral aspirations of the major players.
A bit about these parties
In Manipur, much more so than any other north-eastern state, a significant rise in the relevance of smaller parties has been observed. The All India Trinamool Congress(TMC) won seven of the sixty seats in 2012. Similarly, The National People’s Party(NPP) and Lok Janashakti Party(LJP) won four and one seat, respectively, in 2017. The importance of these smaller parties only increased when the governor snubbed Congress, which was the single largest vote-getter, in favour of the BJP. As a result, the four MLAs from NPP grabbed all Cabinet berths; the Naga People’s Front (NPF), which had won four seats of its own, got two Cabinet posts, including a lone LJP MLA receiving a place as well. Thus, the importance of these smaller parties certainly cannot be overstated.
However, there seems to be a new candidate throwing their hat in the ring this time around. The Janata Dal (United), which was essentially irrelevant in Manipur earlier, seems to be turning its luck around. Four well-known leaders from the BJP and Congress have already defected to the party. The party holds hope that it will expand its voter base from strictly the Hindi-speaking heartland into Manipur. It expects to win at least a few seats. The party had announced that it would be joining any party that could form the government in Manipur.
Other parties
The two other parties relevant to this discussion are the National People’s Party(NPP) and the Naga People’s Front(NPF). The NPP, an ally of the BJP in three North-eastern states, hopes to improve upon its tally of 2017, when it had won four seats out of the nine on which it contested. The party announced its candidates from 40 constituencies and has yet to state its inclinations of partnership with any other party. However, the party has already released its manifesto, in which it has promised a Scheduled Tribe status for the Hindu Meitei and the Muslim Meitei-Pangal communities. It has also promised to resolve the Naga issue. Another promise that the party has made is the repeal of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act(AFSPA) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA).
The NPF, which has four MLAs, has contested only 10 Naga-dominated seats in the hilly regions. However, the party is expected to face some tough competition from Congress as those districts happen to be the latter’s strongholds.
