The Opposition Congress on Saturday threatened “legal recourse” if Manipur governor Najma Heptulla does not summon a special session for a trust vote, after the ruling BJP outwitted it by winning the lone Rajya Sabha seat.

BJP nominee and titular king Sanajaoba Leishemba won against former MLA T. Mangibabu 28 to 24 on Friday evening, after the Congress alleged irregularities.

“It was a very tough fight. We lost because of the discriminatory and controversial role of Assembly Speaker Y. Khemchand to disqualify four MLAs from our camp. His decisions could attract contempt of court. Moreover, there was also cross-voting,” senior Congress leader O. Joy Singh said.

The Speaker had also allegedly shown to everyone whom he and a Congress MLA had voted for, something not permissible under the rules, he added.

The four disqualified MLAs had moved Manipur High Court but their case was not taken up because of “paucity of time” and their papers not being in order.

Earlier, the high court had asked the Speaker not to allow seven Congress MLAs who had defected to the ruling BJP in 2017 from entering the Assembly till their disqualification case was settled.

Winning by selective disqualification is a lifeline not a victory, tweeted Congress MP and Manipur in-charge Gaurav Gogoi on Saturday evening.

Sources told The Telegraph on Saturday evening that leaders of the newly-formed Congress-led Secular Progressive Front (SPF) were firm on the trust vote and that they had on Friday evening “requested” Heptulla to convene a special session for a trial of strength since the incumbent government had lost majority. They also conveyed they will have to seek legal action if the trust vote is not held at the earliest.

Soon after the results were out, chief minister N. Biren Singh said most MLAs, irrespective of party affiliations, were supporting him because his government was working for the needy and for the welfare of the state. On the Congress’s demand for a floor test, he said that was the call of the governor “but the people of the state and the country today saw who has the majority”.

The run-up to Friday’s polls saw the Congress in an upbeat mood with three-time former chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh in a letter to the governor staking claim to form the government since the BJP-led government had been reduced to a minority after nine MLAs, including four from ally National People’s Party withdrew support. He claimed the support of 26 MLAs to BJP’s 23 in a House of 49. On voting day, the strength went up to 52 with inclusion of the four defector Congress MLAs and disqualification of the Trinamul MLA.

The Raja Sabha poll is the second time the BJP has trumped the Congress despite not having the numbers. Congress had won 28 seats in the 2017 Assembly elections, but the BJP (21) rode to power with the support of other parties and defectors.