Imphal, June 11: The ruling Congress has suffered a major setback in Manipur by managing to retain only one of the six autonomous district councils while the Naga People's Front (NPF), which debuted in the polls, won one council.

Polling was held in 144 seats of the six district councils in Senapati, Tamenglong, Ukhrul, Chandel and Churachandpur districts on June 1 amid allegations of largescale booth-capturing and snatching of ballot boxes.

The Congress, which is in its third consecutive term in the state, was in power in all the district councils.

While it retained the Kuki-dominated Sadar Hills district council in Senapati district, the NPF won majority in Naga-dominated Ukhrul district council.

No party got majority in the remaining four district councils.

The Congress, which secured 106 seats in the 2010 election, held after a gap of more than 20 years, won only in 46 seats this time.

The NPF, which contested the council polls for the first time, won 43 seats while the BJP, which is vying with the Congress for the 2017 Assembly polls, managed to secure only 21 seats.

Independent candidates were successful in 34 seats and they are preparing to play a major role in formation of the remaining four district councils.

With all the poll results declared this morning, parties started hectic parleys to capture power in Senapati, Chandel, Churachandpur and Tamenglong councils.

The Congress has already announced it will not have any post-poll alliance with any party.

However, it is trying to garner the support of the Independents to gain power in some of the other councils.

Before polling, both the BJP and the NPF had hinted they might have a post-poll alliance to capture power. It is not immediately clear whether the two parties have started consultations on power sharing.

In Sadar Hills, Congress won absolute majority with 17 seats, BJP four, NPF two and Independent one. NPF won absolute majority in Ukhrul with 17 seats while the Congress won two seats, BJP one and Independents four.

In Senapati, NPF won 11 seats, BJP eight, Congress one and Independents four. In Chandel, Congress won 11 seats, NPF five, BJP two and Independents six.

In Churachandpur, Independents won 18 seats, Congress five and BJP one. In Tamenglong, Congress won 10 seats, NPF eight, BJP five and Independent one.

Each council has 24 seats.

The Congress's debacle has been attributed to the anti-party wave that swept the council areas ahead of the polls, particularly in Naga-dominated districts of Ukhrul, Chandel, Tamenglong and Senapati. Naga organisations are strongly against the Congress because they consider chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh "anti-Naga" after the state government prevented NSCN (I-M) leader Th. Muivah from entering Manipur in 2010.

The Congress leaders, however, blamed a strong campaign by the NSCN (I-M) against the Congress candidates.

"We could not field candidates in all 144 seats because of threats and intimidation by the outfit to our ticket aspirants. Some people backed by NSCN (I-M) adopted unfair means during the polling process. It is because of this that we could not do well this time," a Congress leader said.