President’s Rule has been imposed in Manipur after the BJP leadership failed to appoint a new chief minister following Biren Singh’s resignation. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officially notified the decision on Thursday, February 13.
The notification stated that “I, Droupadi Murmu, President of India, have received a report from the Governor of the State of Manipur and after considering the report and other information received by me, I am satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the Government of that State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of India (hereinafter referred to as the Constitution).”
Article 174(1) of the Constitution requires state Assemblies to meet within six months of their last session. Manipur’s last Assembly session was on August 12, 2024, setting Wednesday as the deadline for the next sitting.
However, Governor Ajay Bhalla cancelled the Budget session, which was set to begin on Monday, after CM N Biren Singh resigned.
Manipur CM resigns
On February 9, Manipur CM N Biren Singh resigned as the Opposition considered a no-confidence motion against his government.
In the letter to the Governor, Manipur CM Biren Singh said that he was “extremely grateful to the Central government for timely actions, interventions, developmental work and implementation of various projects for safeguarding the interest of every single Manipuri”.
“My sincere request to the Central government through your good office is to continue with the same. I take the opportunity to enumerate the most important ones of them,” he said, citing these as maintaining the “territorial integrity of Manipur which has a rich and diverse civilizational history over thousands of years”, cracking down “on border infiltration and formulate policy for the deportation of the illegal immigrants” and “the fight against drugs and narco-terrorism”.
Manipur CM also listed the “stringent and fool-proof revised mechanism of FMR with the biometric being stringently applied” and “time-bound and faster border which is underway”
Congress on Monday accused CM N Biren Singh of resigning to shield the BJP, not the people of Manipur, as ethnic violence nears two months.
Days after CM’s resignation, BJP fails to name a successor
Despite several rounds of discussions between BJP’s northeast in-charge Sambit Patra and party legislators, the deadlock persists with some lawmakers suggesting that the final decision may rest with the Centre.
Patra has met Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla twice over the past two days. On Tuesday, Patra, accompanied by state party president A Sharda Devi, held talks with Bhalla, and on Wednesday, he met the governor again. Meanwhile, experts had warned that with no one staking claim to form the government so far, the BJP-ruled Manipur may head towards a constitutional crisis.
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