Now 7 seats in Assembly lying vacant Govindas resigns from Congress, Assembly

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jul 28 : Setting more tongues wagging and adding that extra bit of masala to the political developments in the last few days, former president of Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee and MLA from Bishnupur Assembly Constituency Govindas Konthoujam has resigned from the Assembly as well as from the primary membership of the Congress.
Govindas submitted his resignation from the post of MLA to the Assembly Secretariat and a notification accepting his resignation was issued by the Assembly Secretary M Ramani later in the day.
Subsequently M Ramani issued a notification declaring that Bishnupur Assembly Constituency is now vacant.
Following the resignation of Govindas, the Assembly now has only 53 seats with  7 seats lying vacant.
The seven seats lying vacant are Bishnupur, Andro, Lamlai, Naoriya Pakhanglakpa, Kumbi, Tamenglong and Henglep.
The MLAs of Andro, Lamlai and Kumbi were disqualified under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law) while in Naoriya Pakhanglakpa, Henglep, Tamenglong and Bishnupur, the respective MLAs voluntary resigned from their seats.
The latest development has not come as much of a surprise to many political watchers of the State as Govindas had earlier resigned as the president of the MPCC (I). The AICC (I) had accepted the resignation and an interim president was appointed in the person of Nambol AC MLA N Loken.
On the latest development, N Loken said that the resignation of Govindas from the primary membership of the Congress would not weaken the party in any manner.
He further said that the resignation could be due to some personal matter and reiterated that it could not have been due to disillusionment with the Congress.
N Loken further said that the current talks doing the round that other Congress MLAs may follow suit has nothing to do with the internal issues of the Congress.
The interim president of the MPCC further said that there could be new developments in August and added that the BJP is not exactly in a comfortable position at the moment.
Notbaly the strength of the Congress in the Assembly now stands at 17, significantly down from the 28 it won in the 2017 Assembly elections.