Manipur Congress demands CM Khemchand Singh's resignation, dissolution of Assembly and fresh polls

The party cited about 300 deaths since May 2023. A report it referred to puts the toll at at least 306 killed and 49 people missing. The Congress said that about 60,000 people were displaced, and that 24,000 of them still remain away from their homes. The conflict began between the valley-based Meitei and the hill-based Kuki communities, and later clashes have involved Naga communities too.

The full list of demands

Besides the resignation of the chief minister and the dissolution of the Assembly, the Congress put forward a list of demands:

• protection of civilians from all communities;
• time-bound investigations and prosecutions for killings, shootings, arson and destruction of civilian property;
• strict enforcement and a review of the ground rules under the suspension of operations agreement, with action against violators;
• restoration of freedom of movement across Manipur;
• a time-bound roadmap for peace, rehabilitation and the safe return of displaced people;
• an immediate directive from the Union government, with a comprehensive plan to end the violence.

The suspension of operations agreement is a ceasefire arrangement between the government and certain armed groups, which sets out where members of those groups must stay and what they may do. The reports do not explain its terms, but its ground rules have been a subject of dispute, and the party wants them reviewed and enforced.

A Congress spokesperson argued that the situation stayed out of control under both the previous governor and the present chief minister. The party's national leaders have used the same line. Alka Lamba, the Mahila Congress president, who visited Manipur from 1 to 4 October, said she had met women who were affected by the violence and that the BJP government in the state had completely failed to stop it. She also questioned a possible meeting involving Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the police headquarters before the party's rally in Delhi on 1 November.

The state was under President's Rule after N. Biren Singh resigned as chief minister in February 2025, and the Assembly was kept in suspended animation. A government under Khemchand Singh has since taken office, and the Congress has been asking for the Assembly to be dissolved for a long time. In September 2025, the state Congress president, Keisham Meghachandra, made the same demand.

Under the Constitution, an Assembly is dissolved by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister, or the Centre can act through President's Rule under Article 356, so a party in opposition cannot bring about dissolution by demand alone. The Assembly's term runs until early 2027, and the next elections are due then in any case, so a call for dissolution now would bring them forward by only a few months. The chief minister has the numbers in the House, and the BJP and its allies are unlikely to accept the demand. Its value for the Congress is political: it keeps the issue of Manipur in front of voters, and it ties it to the party's wider campaign against the BJP.

The question that matters for residents is whether the violence stops. Roads remain unsafe in many parts, tens of thousands of people are still displaced, and every new killing raises the temperature. The Union government's response, the role of the security forces and the handling of the suspension of operations ground rules will decide that, much more than the political demands.