Manipur Governor Violated Constitutional Norms: Congress Claims

Congress has come out with a serious allegation over Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla that he has violated the Constitution by failing to summon the Assembly for its session.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said--“Today [February 11] is the last day for a constitutionally mandated sitting of the Manipur Legislative Assembly’s session,” on social media while citing Article 174(1) of the Constitution.

The Article 174 (1) of the constitution says that there can not be a gap of more than 6 months between two sittings  of an  assembly session and the first sitting of the next session.

“Why is the Manipur Governor violating Article 174(1) by not summoning the Manipur Legislative Assembly for its constitutionally mandated assembly session?" Mr. Ramesh said.

Bhalla revoked his January 24th order where he summoned the assembly for the winter session which was to begin on Monday (10th February). The assembly session was declared null and void by the governor.

The declaration of null and void of the session was due to BJP’s failure to appoint new CM after Biren Singh resigned. The Congress was seeking a no-confidence motion against Biren Singh on the starting day of the session and he resigned the previous night.

“Sensing the climate, the Manipur chief minister has just resigned. This was a demand that the Congress has been making since early May 2023, when Manipur erupted," Mr. Ramesh said.

"The chief minister's resignation was belated," he aadded

Manipur’s ethnic violence since May 2023, has claimed over 250 lives and displaced over 59,000 people, bringing a collateral human rights violation in the state.