BJP appoints central observer for election of Manipur legislature party leader; new govt likely soon
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP Parliamentary Board on Monday appointed party national general secretary Tarun Chugh as the central observer for the election of the legislature party leader in Manipur, indicating the possible formation of a popular government in the Northeastern state.
The move came as NDA MLAs from Manipur arrived in the national capital after being summoned by the BJP central leadership, ostensibly to discuss the formation of government in the state where the current spell of the President's rule will expire next week.
"The BJP Parliamentary Board has appointed Tarun Chugh, National General Secretary, as Central Observer for the election of the Legislature Party Leader in Manipur," party national general secretary Arun Singh said in a statement.
Manipur has been under the President's rule since February 13, 2025, following months of ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities.
The central rule was imposed after the BJP-led government headed by Biren Singh resigned on February 9, 2025. The 60-member state assembly, whose tenure is till 2027, was put under suspended animation.
The BJP legislature party meeting is expected to take place on Tuesday. It is likely to be held at the party headquarters in Delhi.
Nearly 20 MLAs arrived on Sunday night, while others reached here on Monday following the direction of the BJP leadership.
The legislature party meeting will be held days ahead of the expiry of the second spell of the President's rule, which was first imposed on February 13, 2025, for six months and then extended for another six months in August 2025.
Those who have arrived in the national capital include former chief minister N Biren Singh, Assembly Speaker Satyabrata Singh and former minister Y Khemchand Singh. BJP state president A Sharda Devi is also in Delhi.
The BJP central leadership had held several rounds of separate meetings with its Meitei and Kuki MLAs, allies NPF and NPP and a few Independent legislators over the last few months to gauge their views on whether the political situation was conducive for the formation of a popular government, the sources said.
On December 14, 2025, BJP's national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh and the party's Northeast coordinator Sambit Patra met BJP MLAs from both the warring Meitei and Kuki communities in Delhi under one roof.
Currently, there are 37 BJP MLAs in Manipur. Originally, a total of 32 BJP MLAs had won the 2022 assembly elections.
The JD(U) had won six seats, and five of its MLAs later defected to the BJP, taking the strength of the saffron party to 37.
Among the other MLAs, six are from the National People's Party (NPP), five from the Naga People's Front, five from the Congress, two from the Kuki People's Alliance (KPA) , one from Janata Dal (United) and three Independents. There is one vacant seat following the death of a sitting MLA.
After the imposition of the President's rule, Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla had taken a number of steps to restore peace and bring back normalcy, including asking those who looted arms from security forces to surrender them.
The ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities started in May 2023 after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
At least 260 people lost their lives and thousands were displaced during the violence.
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SC slams WhatsApp, Meta over privacy policy, says will pass interim order on Feb 9
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp while hearing their appeals against a Competition Commission of India order imposing a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore over the privacy policy, saying tech giants cannot “play with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing”.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said that it will pass an interim order on February 9. The top court ordered that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology be made a party to the petitions.
It was hearing appeals filed by Meta and WhatsApp against a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) judgment that upheld the CCI’s findings of abuse of dominance, while granting limited relief on advertising-related data sharing.
"You can't play with the right of privacy of this country in the name of data sharing. We will not allow you to share a single word of the data, either you give an undertaking...you cannot violate the right of privacy of citizens,” the CJI said.
The bench said the right to privacy is zealously guarded in the country and noted that the privacy terms are “so cleverly crafted” that a common person cannot understand them.
“This is a decent way of committing theft of private information, we will not allow you to do that... You have to give an undertaking otherwise, we have to pass an order,” the CJI said.
