2022 Manipur Legislative Assembly election

Legislative Assembly elections were held in Manipur from 28 February to 5 March 2022 in two phases, to elect 60 members of the Manipur Legislative Assembly. The results declared on 10 March 2022. The newly constituted assembly was named 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 32 out of 60 seats and secured a comfortable majority. N. Biren Singh was re-elected as the chief minister and continued in his office, forming a new ministry. In September 2022, 5 legislators of JD(U) "merged" with BJP taking its total strength to 37 in the Assembly.

2022 Manipur Legislative Assembly election

← 2017 28 February & 5 March 2022 2027 →
All 60 seats in the Manipur Legislative Assembly 31 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	90.28%( 3.65 pp)
Majority party Minority party Third party   JD(U) Leader N. Biren Singh Yumnam Joykumar Singh Hangkhanpau Taithul Party BJP NPP JD(U) Alliance NDA Leader since 2017 2017 2022 Leader's seat Heingang Uripok (Lost) Singhat (Lost) Last election 36.28%, 21 seats 5.05%, 4 seats Did not contest Seats won 32 7 6 Seat change 11 3 New Popular vote 702,632 321,224 200,100 Percentage 37.83% 17.29% 10.77% Swing 2.73 pp 12.19 pp New   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   NPF KPA Leader Okram Ibobi Singh Losii Dikho WL Hangshing Party INC NPF KPA Alliance MPSA Leader since 2002 2017 2022 Leader's seat Thoubal Mao Last election 35.11%, 28 seats 7.17%, 4 seats New Seats won 5 5 2 Seat change 23 1 New Popular vote 312,659 150,209 10,808 Percentage 16.83% 8.09% 1.01% Swing 18.57 pp 0.89 pp New
Structure of the Manipur Legislative Assembly after the election
Chief Minister before election N. Biren Singh BJP Elected Chief Minister N. Biren Singh BJP

Background

In the 2017 assembly elections the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 21 seats in a house of 60, and formed a government in alliance with National People's Party (NPP), Naga People's Front (NPF) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). N. Biren Singh won the contest for the chief minister, outdoing his rival Thongam Biswajit Singh, the first BJP legislator in the Assembly.

The support of NPP, a partner in the National Democratic Alliance as well as North East Democratic Alliance, was considered key. Its four MLAs were given ministerial posts, with BJP limiting itself to two ministerial posts. By 2020, the relationship between BJP and NPP soured, and the NPP legislators withdrew support. Nevertheless, CM Biren Singh managed to weather the storm by acquiring a few Congress legislators and getting a few others disqualified. BJP's candidate for Rajya Sabha, titular king Leishemba Sanajaoba, won the election, beating his Congress rival T. Mangibabu. Subsequently, NPP returned to the fold of the ruling coalition with reduced influence.

CM Biren Singh also held his ground against his internal rival Biswajit Singh, and acquired three Congress legislators including Govindas Konthoujam, its state unit president. Biren Singh was in a strong position ahead of the polls. He was seen as being friendly towards the hill tribals, and also won the favour of the majority Meitei community by achieving the Inner Line Permit system for Manipur.

The tenure of Manipur Legislative Assembly was scheduled to end on 19 March 2022.

Parties and alliances

Bharatiya Janata Party

  Bharatiya Janata Party

No.	Party	Flag	Symbol	Leader	Photo	Seats contested	Male Candidates	Female Candidates
1.	Bharatiya Janata Party			Nongthombam Biren Singh		60	57	3

United Progressive Alliance

  United Progressive Alliance

No.	Party	Flag	Symbol	Leader	Photo	Seats contested	Male Candidates	Female Candidates
1.	Indian National Congress			Okram Ibobi Singh		53	50	3
2.	Communist Party of India			L. Sotin Kumar		2	1	1

1. INC and CPI will have a friendly contest on Kakching constituency

Naga People's Front

  Naga People's Front

No.	Party	Flag	Symbol	Leader	Photo	Seats contested	Male Candidates	Female Candidates
1.	Naga People's Front			Losii Dikho		10	10	0

National People's Party (India)

  National People's Party (India)

No.	Party	Flag	Symbol	Leader	Photo	Seats contested	Male Candidates	Female Candidates
1.	National People's Party			Yumnam Joykumar Singh		38	36	2

Others

No.	Party	Flag	Symbol	Leader	Photo	Seats contested	Male Candidates	Female Candidates
1.	Nationalist Congress Party			Sharad Pawar		8	6	2
2.	Janata Dal (United)			Hangkhanpau Taithul		38	37	1
3.	Shiv Sena			Uddhav Thackeray		9	9	0
4.	Republican Party of India (Athawale)			Ramdas Athawale		9	9	0
5.	Kuki People's Alliance			WL Hangshing		2	1	1

Polling

The election schedule was announced by the Election Commission of India on 8 January 2022. However, the election dates were postponed from 27 to 28 February for Phase I, and 3 to 5 March for Phase II.

S.No.	Poll event	Phase
		I	II
1.	Date for Nominations	1 February 2022	4 February 2022
2.	Last date for filing nomination	8 February 2022	11 February 2022
3.	Date for Scrutiny of nomination	9 February 2022	14 February 2022
4.	Last date for withdrawal of nomination	11 February 2022	16 February 2022
5.	Date of poll	28 February 2022	5 March 2022
6.	Date of Counting	10 March 2022

Voter turnout

Phase	Date	Seats	Districts	District Turnout (%)	Phase Turnout (%)
I	28 February 2022	38	Bishnupur	91.11	88.69
			Pherzawl–Churachandpur	79.65
			Imphal East	90.55
			Imphal West	90.80
			Kangpokpi	90.14
II	5 March 2022	22	Chandel–Tengnoupal	93.94	89.06
			Jiribam	90.26
			Senapati	88.16
			Tamenglong–Noney	86.50
			Thoubal–Kakching	91.09
			Ukhrul	83.46
Total		60

Results

Results by alliance and party

1. BJP (37.8%)
2. NPP (17.3%)
3. MPSA (16.9%)
4. JD(U) (10.8%)
5. NPF (8.09%)
6. IND (5.08%)
7. Other (4.04%)