Manipur Elections 2022 | Voting for 38 seats begins in first round today; CM Biren Singh among 173 candidates in the fray

As many as 12,09,439 voters including 5,80,607 male, 6,28,657 female and 175 transgender voters are eligible to vote in the first of the two phases of Manipur assembly polls.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded 38 candidates, Congress has 35 and Janata Dal United (JDU) has 28. Out of the 173 candidates, 15 are females while 39 candidates have criminal charges against them.

The high-voltage election campaign in the northeastern state came to an end on February 26.

The scheduled date of polling for the first phase announced on January 8 was February 27, but the election commission rescheduled it for February 28. The polling for remaining 22 seats in the 60-member Manipur Assembly will take place on March 5.

Also, read | Manipur goes to polls under the shadow of guns and AFSPA

In 2017, the BJP formed the government in Manipur with the support of the National People's Party (NPP), Naga People's Front (NPF) and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). However, this time the BJP is contesting alone on all 60 seats.

The Congress is fighting the polls as part of the  alliance of six political parties called Manipur Progressive Secular Alliance (MPSA). The coalition partners in MPSA include Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Janata Dal (Secular), apart from the Congress.

In the 2017 Manipur Assembly elections, Congress had emerged as the single largest party winning 28 seats followed by the BJP which settled with 21 seats. The National People's Party (NPP) and Naga People's Front (NPF) bagged four seats each while the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) managed to win only one seat.

Also, read | Manipur Elections 2022: Why AFSPA has become an important poll issue this time

Later, the BJP stitched a coalition with the NPP, NPF and LJP and formed the government under the leadership of Biren Singh.