Guwahati: Amid the ongoing noise over the counting of votes, the Congress party has established winning lead on both the seats of trouble-torn Manipur where Congress candidate Bimol Akoijam was leading against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate T Basanta Kumar Singh by 78,947 votes, as per the latest data on the Election Commission of India (ECI) website.
Congress’ Alfred Kanngum Arthur was leading by 52,846 votes against the NPF’s Kachui Tomothy Zimik in the Outer Manipur seat.
It is significant that in 2019, the BJP had won the Inner Manipur seat while the Naga People’s Front (NPF) had bagged Outer Manipur.
Akoijam is a JNU professor. Kanngum Arthur is a former MLA from Manipur’s Ukhrul constituency. BJP candidate Singh was the state education minister and a former police officer, while Zimik is a retired Internal Revenue Service officer.
Polling had witnessed incidents of violence in Manipur, which continues to divide on ethnic lines, ever since clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki communities on May 3 last year.
The Congress leading on both the seats was also significant as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had started his second leg of Bharat Jodo Yatra from Imphal in Manipur.
