Manipur Assembly to convene on August 29 but Kuki MLAs not sure about attending

The Manipur Assembly will convene on August 29 for its first session since the start of violence that has convulsed the state for the past four months even as doubts persist over the attendance of the 10 Kuki-Zomi members of the House.

In an order dated August 21, Governor Anusuiya Uikey summoned the Assembly following the state Cabinet’s second recommendation that came after a meeting on Monday. Kuki-Zomi MLAs have said that at present it seems unlikely they will travel to Meitei-dominated Imphal to attend the session.

“As legislators, it is our duty to attend the Assembly. But given the current situation, I don’t know what the government plans for us. As of now, it is beyond our belief that there will be any means for us to attend. Looking back at events, an MLA with his proper security was attacked in a way that he went into a coma … We will consult each other and see what can be done,” said one of the legislators, referring to the attack on Thanlon MLA and former minister Vunzagin Valte in Imphal on May 3.

The Cabinet recommendation and summons issued by Raj Bhavan come after the Governor did not approve the Cabinet’s previous recommendation to convene the Assembly on August 21. This put the government in a difficult position because Article 174 of the Constitution requires that there should not be an interval of more than six months between the last sitting in a session and the first sitting in the next session. Given that the last session ended on March 3, the Assembly has to convene before September 2. Another issue was that the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Assembly state that the summons should be issued to each member of the Assembly “at least 15 days before the date so appointed”. The window for this already passed on August 21.

To convene the session, the government made use of an emergency provision in the rules which states, “Provided that when a session is called at short notice or emergently, summons may not be issued to each member separately but an announcement of the date and place of the session shall be published in the Gazette and made in the press, and members may be informed by telegram.”