Former Chief Minister and Congress leader Okram Ibobi Singh feel that Manipur citizens want change because they are now fed up with the current government. He also said that the current ruling party BJP's "divisive politics" both at the national and state level is not going to succeed in the five states, during an interview with PTI he said, "I believe that the people of Manipur are fed up with BJP. It is just that they have not been able to express it openly. The BJP has been telling lies and making hollow promises. They have not converted any of their promises into action."
Meanwhile, the EC has changed the date of the Manipur assembly polls for phase 1 and phase 2. Now the voting for the second phase is going to happen on March 5 instead of March 3 and the voting of the first phase will happen on February 28 instead of 27 February. Earlier, the Election Commission of India announced the poll dates for the 60 assembly seats of the state. The voting was going to be held in two phases on February 27 and March 3 respectively. But now the dates change to 28 Feb- phase1 and 5 March-phase 2.