Manipur Legislative Assembly Speaker Y Khemchand Singh on Tuesday accepted the resignation submitted by five Congress MLAs namely Okram Henry Singh, Oinam Lukhoi Singh, Muhammad Abdul Nasir, Ngamthang Haokip and Ginsuanhau.
A total of six MLAs, including MLA Paonam Brojen, tendered their resignations during the Monsoon Session of the state Assembly which concluded on Monday.
Although the Speaker accepted the resignation of the five Congress MLAs, MLA Paonam Brojen’s resignation has been kept on hold. His resignation has not been accepted yet as a disqualified proceeding is still pending in the Speaker's Tribunal, sources from the Assembly said. Brojen is the legislator from Wangjing Tentha assembly constituency, Thoubal district.
Okram Henry Singh was the MLA of Wankhei assembly constituency while Oinam Lukhoi Singh is from Wangoi assembly constituency; Muhammad Abdul Nasir from Lilong assembly constituency; Ngamthang from Saitu (ST) assembly constituency and Ginsuanhau from Singhat (ST) assembly constituency.
MLA resigned Okram Henry said the six MLAs resigned from the membership of Manipur Legislative Assembly on Monday as they were unable to fully serve the people as Congress legislators. Okram Henry is the nephew of former chief minister of Manipur, Okram Ibobi Singh.
“As the six of us were in the opposition party, we were unable to take part in the developmental works and could not fulfill the demands of the people or addressed the grievances of the public,” added Henry.
The opposition MLAs tendered their resignations when trust vote was to decide the fate of N. Biren Singh-led coalition government on the floor of the House. The confidence motion was moved by the chief minister last Friday despite the no-confidence moved by the opposition on July 28. The BJP-led coalition won the trust motion through a voice vote.
In all, only 16 of the 24 opposition MLAs took part in the voting and eight MLAs, including those who tendered their resignations, did not attend the session. This was despite the fact that the opposition party had issued whip. As for the ruling bench, all the 29 members, including the Speaker of which 18 BJP, four each from NPP and NPF, one each from the Trinamool Congress and the Lok Janshakti, and an independent MLA.
The development comes as a huge blow to the opposition Congress as the strength of the party has been reduced to 19. The number of the opposition could falter to 18 in the event of the disqualification of MLA Paonam Brojen whose disqualification petition Judgment will be announced on August 14.
The 60 member House now has 48 with the resignation of five more MLAs. The Speaker’s Tribunal had already disqualified four MLAs of the opposition Congress under anti-defection law and three BJP MLAs resigned.
