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Manipur BJP chief Bhabananda Singh wins state’s lone Rajya Sabha seat
In the 60 member Manipur assembly, BJP’s Bhabananda secured 39 votes while his rival Congress candidate Elangbam Dwijamani got 21 votes.
Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Manipur president Kshetrimayum Bhabananda Singh was elected as a Rajya Sabha member in the by-election held at the state assembly on Thursday.
In the 60 member Manipur assembly, Bhabananda secured 39 votes to defeat his rival Congress candidate Elangbam Dwijamani by 18 votes.
The BJP and its allies have 38 members in the assembly. Chief minister N Biren Singh has been saying that more Congress MLAs are joining his party. Six of them had already joined the BJP, whittling away the strength of the Congress which secured 28 seats to 22.
The by-election was necessitated following the death of Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Haji Abdul Salam (69) on February 28. Salam was the first Manipuri Muslim to be a member of Rajya Sasbha from Manipur.
Fifty-seven-year-old Bhabananda, an advocate, had joined the BJP in 1995 and was the party’s general secretary from 2012 to 2013 and vice president from 2013.
