The Indian general election, 2009 in Manipur, occurred for 2 seats in the state.

Candidates of the Indian National Congress triumphed in the election to both the Parliamentary constituencies with Dr Thokchom Meinya Singh retaining the Inner seat and Thangso Baite wresting the Outer Parliamentary seat from Mani Charenamei of the Peoples Democratic Alliance. After completion of counting of votes cast by the electorates of Manipur in the 15th Lok Sabha elections, Dr Meinya defeated his nearest rival Dr Moirangthem Nara Singh of CPI by 40,960 votes with Thangso Baite favoured by 3,44,517 voters compared to 2,24,719 votes cast for Charenamei. Thangso Baites victory margin by 1,19,798 votes over Charenamei is also more than the figure of defeat suffered by the Congress candidate to the same rival in the previous poll. Inner manipur parliamentary Constituency[edit]

Out of the 32 assembly segments in the Inner manipur parliamentary Constituency, Dr Meinya received maximum mandate of 16,280 votes out of the total strength of 22,726 electors in Andro assembly constituency whereas 16,136 voters of Thoubal AC stamped their approval to the eventual winner. The third highest votes gained by the Congress MP was in Khundrakpam AC where 10,393 voted in his favour. Dr Meinya, who elicited significant support in all the 32 assembly segments got the least number of 2626 votes from the electorates of Singjamei AC. The Congress candidate had won the same parliamentary seat in the previous Lok Sabha election (2004) with a victory margin of a little over 49,000. Dr nara was the nearest rival at that time, too. In the recent hustings, Dr Nara generated fair support in all the assembly segments where the average voting trend was over the 3000 mark with the exception of Nambol AC where he was preferred by only 1618 adults. Maximum number of Nambol electorates favoured former Parliamentarian Thounaojam Chaoba Singh. Chaoba who contested the 15th Lok Sabha election on MPP ticket polled 10,988 votes. The figure, in his home polling station, was also the most chaoba polled in the election. In spite of being the consensus candidate of a handful of national as well as regional political parties Chaoba finished a distant third tipping the one lakh barrier by only 1787 votes. Out of the total of 1,99,916 votes polled by Dr Nara, the CPI stalwart received maximum support of Lilong AC electorates with 10,898 from a total of 21,451 votes favouring the former Art and Culture Minister. Mandate of Thongju AC electorates too tilted heavily in favour of Dr Nara with 10,142 votes cast for the CPI nominee out of the total of 18,210. Election to the Inner Manipur parliamentary constituency for the 15th Lok Sabha was held on April 22 with a total of seven candidates in the fray. former Chief Minister and BJP nominee W Nipamacha, L Kshetrani devi (RBCP), Abdul Rahman (Independent) and N Homendro (Ind) were the other candidates. Dr Meinya also led in all the four districts where franchise for the inner Parliamentary Constituency was conducted. The difference of victory margin between Dr Meinya and Dr Nara was the largest in Imphal East district with 10,298 votes separating the winner and nearest vanquished. On the other hand, Imphal West witnessed the fiercest contest between the two as the difference stood at only 2144 votes. Outer manipur parliamentary Constituency[edit]

Out of 28 assembly segments in the Outer seat, Thangso Baite received mandate of 3,44,517 voters to represent them in the Parliament. Outer Parliamentary Constituency is also composed of six assembly segments of Thoubal district and Jiribam subdivision of Imphal East district, and Scheduled Tribe assembly segments spread across Tamenglong, Chandel, Ukhrul, Senapati and Churachandpur districts. Thangso, who faltered against Mani Charenamei in the 14th Lok Sabha election by 82,193 votes secured the maximum of 27,516 votes from electorates of Saikul AC against 15,607 for Charenamei in the 15th Lok Sabha election. Compared to his nearest rival, Thangso was least influential among Mao AC electors where only 850 votes were polled for the INC candidate. On the other hand, the sitting MP was heavily favoured by the electors of Chingai AC in Ukhrul district as the maximum of 22,194 votes were cast for the PDA nominee. The least number of vote Charenamei managed from among the 28 assembly segments was in Sugnu AC under Thoubal district with only 106 voters choosing the PDA candidate. The INC candidate had substantial lead in 17 of the ACs whereas Charenamei led in eight, LB sona of the Nationalist Congress Party in two and Loli Adanee of the BJP in one. Election for the Outer Manipur Parliamentary (ST) Constituency was held on April 16 with a total of nine candidates in the fray.The other candidates are BJPs D Loli Adanee (93,052), NCPs LB Sona (79,849), RJDs MY Haokip (4859), LJPs Thangkhagin (1252), Valley Rose (Ind/4735), M Rose Haokip (Ind/1128) and L Gangte (Ind/2070). Manipur State Government and Its Set-Up

As far as India's governance structure is concerned, the Governor of the state is considered to be the representative of the President, and thus has the highest constitutional power in the state.

But the executive powers and policy making are assigned to the chief minister, who is head of the state government and member of the legislative assembly. He runs the state government through the Council of Ministers, which in turn is responsible to the elected legislative assembly of the state.

Sharing of Legislative Powers

In the republic of India, legislative powers are shared between parliament and the state legislatures, but parliament is the ultimate authority and reserves the right to amend the constitution. So, similar to the other state governments in India, the Government of Manipur is also run by the chief minister through an elected body of MLAs. They administer the nine districts of Manipur. The government includes an executive under the Governor, a judiciary and a legislative branch.

State Assembly

Similar to the other states in India, in Manipur, the supreme constitutional powers rest with the Governor of Manipur, who is appointed by the President. However President does not do it autocratically, he has to seek the advice of the central government in this regard. Imphal, the capital of Manipur, is also home to the Manipur Vidhan Sabha (state assembly), Imphal bench of High Court and the secretariat. The Manipur assembly includes 60 elected members or MLAs.

Manipur was a union territory until 1972, when it was granted the status of a state by New Delhi. The largest city, Imphal was made the capital of the state with none other districts. At present, Vinod Duggal is the Governor and INCs (Indian National Congress) Okram Ibobi Singh is the state chief minister.

Municipal Corporations

For better governance, the state is divided into nine municipal corporations; viz. Imphal, Thoubal, Kakching, Mayang Imphal, Nambol, Moirang, Ningthoukhong, Bishnupur and Jiribam municipal councils, which are further divided into many wards. Manipur government has formed many boards such as Manipur Biodiversity Board, Board of Secondary Education Manipur, Council of Higher secondary Education, Manipur State Science & Technology Council, Manipur Urban Development Authority, Manipur Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium, and Manipur State AIDS Control Society (MACS) to undertake different aspects of administration.

Boards and Committees

The Biodiversity Management Committees has the responsibility of ensuring conservation of biodiversity. It is also dedicated to sustainable utilization of the biodiversity of the state. It is an important administrative body of Manipur since the state is largely dependent upon natural resources and its rich biodiversity for survival and growth. They also restrict its manipulation by outside agencies and organizations.

Manipur State AIDS Control Society (MACS) came into being in 1998. Ever since the first few cases of HIV infected patients came into light in India in 1986, the Manipur State Government became active and launched immediate measures to counter the threat. When, National AIDS Committee was formed in 1986, a state level AIDS committee was also formed in Manipur and it was administered by none other than the state chief minister. When the first HIV case was reported in Manipur in

1990, the state government became alert and set up a separate State AIDS Cell in the State Health Directorate. Soon, the AIDS emerged as an epidemic in the state and MACS was set up to control it.

Politics in Manipur

The major national parties such as Indian National Congress, CPI, RJD and BJP have their presence in the state of Manipur as well and they actively participate in all the political activities and elections of the Legislative Assembly. The state level parties are also not far behind as they work very hard for the growth of the state.

At present, Indian National Congress is the ruling party in Manipur with Mr. Okram Ibobi Singh as Chief Minister.

The major state level parties in Manipur are: Democratic Revolutionary Peoples Party Federal Party of Manipur Manipur National Conference Manipur Peoples Party Naga National Party National People's Party (India) Nikhil Manipuri Mahasabha People's Liberation Army of Manipur Manipur Peoples Party (MPP)

It was another dissident group from the Indian National Congress, which split in 1968 and formed a new local party in Manipur.

The Democratic Revolutionary Peoples Party (DRPP)

It is also a local political outfit in Manipur. In the 2002 assembly elections, the party had won two seats. It merged with the INC Secular Progressive Front led by the Indian National Congress (INC) in 2004.

Nikhil Manipuri Mahasabha

Nikhil Manipuri Mahasabha, was formed way back in British era in 1934. It was a Hindu fundamentalist organization and obviously it was against baptization of non-Christians of the state. They also opposed the foreign Christians advances into the tribal regions of the valley. They claim to protect the Hindus of the state from conversion and social aggression. It is based on the pattern of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha.

The Federal Party of Manipur and Naga National Party

The Federal Party of Manipur is a popular party, which is recognized as a local party in Manipur. It is headed by Mr. Gangmumei Kamei. Similarly, Naga National Party takes care of the interests of Naga community in Manipur. They want negotiated settlements to most of the conflicting situations in the North Eastern region, especially the ones related to Naga community and their rehabilitation in many tribal and urban areas. It is headed by Mr Ng Hungyo. This is also an active political party in Manipur, which had captured three assembly seats in 2007 state elections.

People's Liberation Army (PLA) The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is another political party in Manipur, which was founded by N. Bisheswar Singh in 1978. It is more of an armed rebel group and like Maoists, they are also seeking a separate independent socialist state. So, it is considered to be responsible for spreading insurgency in the state. It is rumored to be trained by the Chinese Army in Tibet and NSCN during the 80s. Imphal: Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Tuesday brought the Congress back to power in Manipur for a third consecutive time, winning a simple majority in the 60-member Assembly.

The ruling party has won all the 42 constituencies, whereas the Manipur Peoples Party-led alliance has won only one seat.

Others have won 17 seats. The victors among them include the Naga Peoples Front (NPF), the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Manipur State Congress Party.