Imphal, Dec 31 : Congress candidate Mairenbam Prithiviraj has defeated his lone rival Heman Bira Singh of the Manipur People`s Party (MPP) by a margin of 4889 votes in the by-election to the Moirang Assembly constituency. The results of the December 27 by-election declared today showed that the Congress party candidate M Prithiviraj secured 16,225 votes while MPP`s Bira Singh got 11,336.

The December 27 by-election was a straight fight between the Congress and the MPP.

However, the Congress was supported by the Rashtrya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) while the MPP was supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

A results statement made available to the press by the Returning Officer of Moirang here on Tuesday showed that Prithiviraj won the by-election by netting in 58.86 percent of the votes, while his lone rival Bira Singh netted in 41.13 percent of the total votes. The results also showed that there were no invalid votes in any of the polling stations with the Congress candidate winning in a majority of the 37 polling stations.

While this is the first instance of Prithiviraj being elected to the state Assembly following his nomination after the sudden demise of the sitting member of the legislative Assembly and his father, Congress MLA M Manindra, it is the fourth time unlucky for the MPP candidate Bira Singh, having come a close second in the previous three elections.

The result will definitely come as a big relief and boost to the O Ibobi Singh led Secular Progressive Front (SPF) government in Manipur after the chief minister had already said that the result of the Moirang by-election would be an acid test for the Congress led SPF government.

The chief minister while addressing the 123rd anniversary of the Indian National Congress on December 28, further maintained that the result would help determine whether the people of the state had faith in the Congress led government or not.

The Congress party in Manipur enjoys a total of 31 members in the 60-member Manipur legislative Assembly.