# Cities

Manipur election results 2017: Sharmila loses to Ibobi

Irom Chanu Sharmila who was fighting as an independent candidate was trailing and has finally lost to Manipur chief minister…

SNS | New Delhi | March 11, 2017 5:27 am

Manipur election results 2017: Sharmila loses to Ibobi

Irom Chanu Sharmila who was fighting as an independent candidate was trailing and has finally lost to Manipur chief minister O Ibobi Singh of Indian National Congress in Thoubal Assembly seat, according to the latest news report. BJP’s Leitanthem Basanta Singh was behind the chief minister.

After first round of counting in Thoubal, Ibobi was leading at 4,689, BJP’s Basanta was on 2,691 and Sharmila was far behind at 26.

Earlier, Sharmila had said that she is unfazed by the results of the exit polls and was confident of putting a good show to the incumbent chief minister INC’s Ibobi Singh.

"I do not feel much affected by the result. It depends upon the people's mindset," she has been quoted as saying to a news agency.

She has also blamed opposition for using the money and muscle power blatantly and had said BJP had tried to offer her money to contest election from the saffron party in the north eastern state.

# India

Where is Irom Sharmila & is Manipur missing her amidst violence?

Sharmila, known for her indomitable 16-year hunger strike demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Power Act, has faced personal hardships.

# Opinion

Of outrageous fortune

The AFSPA (1958) that happens to be one of the most draconian instruments of security and control, first applied to Assam and Manipur and later amended in 1972 to extend to Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland, vests unaccountable and extraordinary powers with the armed forces. The public consciousness against the AFPSA was raised when a group of elderly and middle-aged women from different organisations of the Meira Paibi the largest civilian movement fighting state atrocities and human rights violations in Manipur, besides drug abuse and crimes against women - led a protest march against the rape of Thangjam Manorama by soldiers of Assam Rifles. The fast unto death begun by Irom Chanu Sharmila on 2 November 2000, in protest against the Act, that continued well into August 2016, stirred public conscience

# India

Manipur’s ‘Iron Lady’ Irom Sharmila gives birth to twin girls on Mother’s Day

Sharmila, who had moved to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu after losing the assembly poll in her home state, married her long-time British friend Desmond Coutinho in 2017.