Manipur Home Minister Konthoujam Govindas on Monday (September 7, 2026) informed the 60-member Assembly that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the State would be updated using 1951 as the base year.

Manipur is divided on the NRC issue, for which the Centre recently deferred the Census exercise in the State. While Meitei and Naga organisations want the NRC before the Census and delimitation, Kuki organisations have called it “premature and unjustified”.

Mr. Govindas said that the State government would pursue the implementation of the NRC with the Centre in line with the resolutions adopted by the House. He cited certain figures to justify the resolutions (2022, 2024, and September 2).

He told the House that 14,992 out of 24,475 “illegal immigrants” detected in the State so far have been pushed back into Myanmar. The immigrants entered the country through three border districts — Chandel, Kamjong, and Tengnoupal.

Manipur has been grappling with the influx of undocumented Myanmar nationals since the military coup in the neighbouring country in February 2021.

Insisting that the pushback process was being carried out through diplomatic channels, Mr. Govindas said the government instructed the Deputy Commissioners concerned to segregate the “illegal immigrants” from local Indian communities.

The Home Minister further informed the House that the government constituted a 12-member panel on August 7, 2024, under the chairmanship of former Minister Awangbow Newmai to detect and identify the influx of illegal immigrants and the unnatural growth of new villages. A Cabinet Sub-Committee was also constituted on February 16, 2023, in this regard.

Kuki-Zo concerns

The Kuki-Zo Council (KZC), the apex community body, on Monday urged the Centre to conduct the Census operation in the State, insisting that “politically motivated demands” should not obstruct it.

In a memorandum to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the KZC said any decision concerning the NRC remained within the Centre’s constitutional and legal authority and was not driven by “unsubstantiated” allegations of demographic changes.

The organisation also appealed to the Centre to re-impose President’s Rule in Manipur if the State government continued to fail in its constitutional duty to protect all citizens, and expedite the political dialogue towards a “separate administration” in the form of a Union Territory with a legislature for the Kuki-Zo community.

“The Kuki-Zo people seek neither privilege nor preferential treatment. We seek equal protection, justice, security, and a political future in which our people can live with dignity and without fear,” the KZC said, pointing out that the Centre’s decision to defer the Census exercise in Manipur was “greatly disturbing”.

Naga MLAs’ abstention

All Naga MLAs abstained from the final sitting of the Manipur Assembly session on Monday, protesting the government’s failure to ensure justice in the Leilon Vaiphei abduction-killing case and the lack of action against Deputy Chief Minister Nemcha Kipgen over the alleged links between her husband and a Kuki armed group.

Six Liangmai Naga residents of Leilon Vaiphei village in Kangpokpi district were allegedly abducted by Kuki extremists and killed. Their decomposed bodies were recovered on June 10.

“Our decision not to attend is that we do not want to sit with a Deputy Chief Minister who is linked with the KNF-P (Kuki National Front-Presidential). The prime accused in the Leilon Vaiphei incident is her husband, as there is enough evidence,” Naga MLA Awangbow Newmai told journalists in Imphal.

The Naga legislators also demanded that Ms. Kipgen be removed from the post of Deputy Chief Minister until the investigation into her husband’s alleged involvement is completed.