BJP's Khemchand Singh swears in as Manipur CM

BJP leader Y Khemchand Singh was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Manipur on Wednesday, bringing an end to a year of President's rule in the state. The ceremony was held at Lok Bhavan, with Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla administering the oath of office to him.

Khemchand, a long-time RSS functionary and organisation-focused leader, is a two-time BJP legislator who has held key constitutional and ministerial positions in the state.

Despite being in politics for decades, the 62-year-old leader made his Assembly debut in 2017 from the Singjamei constituency in Imphal West district.

Singh was the Speaker of the Assembly in the first Biren Singh-led BJP government in the state and was inducted into the second Biren Singh ministry in 2022 as a Cabinet Minister. He held key portfolios, including municipal administration, housing and urban development (MAHUD), rural development and panchayati raj, and education departments.

He served in the Cabinet till February 2025, when President’s rule was imposed in the state days after N Biren Singh resigned as the chief minister amid criticisms of his government's handling of the ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kukis, which broke out in May 2023.

Khemchand Singh first contested in the 2012 Assembly polls on an All India Trinamool Congress ticket, but lost to a Congress candidate. He formally joined the BJP in 2013.

Born at Singjamei Yumnam Leikai, he completed his High School Leaving Certificate in 1978 from Ram Lal Paul High School in Imphal. He is married and has a son.

Apart from politics, he has had a long association with Taekwondo. A black belt holder, he is a former vice-president of the Taekwondo Federation of India and has been promoting the sport in the Northeast.