Manipur: BJP wins Singhat Assembly seat unopposed

This is the third win for BJP's Ginsuanhau who was first elected on a Congress ticket in 2012.

BJP candidate Ginsuanhau Zou was on Friday declared elected uncontested in Singhat Assembly constituency bypoll after his opponent withdrew his nomination. Only two candidates had filed their nomination papers for the bypoll, however, independent candidate Chinlunthang withdrew his nomination on Thursday. Congress has not fielded any candidate in the seat.

This is the third win for Ginsuanhau who was first elected on a Congress ticket in 2012. He was re-elected as Congress candidate in the 2017 Assembly election but later joined the BJP for which he was disqualified under the anti-defection law in August.

Friday was the last day of withdrawal of nomination for the by-polls to five Assembly constituencies, namely Wangoi, Wangjing Tentha, Lilong, Saitu and Singhat, due to be held on November 7.

The vacancies are a fallout of a political crisis that gripped the state recently ahead of the concluded Rajya Sabha election. During the crisis, a handful of MLAs resigned and most of them were disqualified by Manipur Speaker under the anti-defection law.

To fill up the vacant seats, the Election Commission of India gave a green signal for the bypolls in only five constituencies as court cases are pending in the rest. In all, 12 Assembly seats, excluding Singhat, are now lying vacant in Manipur.

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