BJP names Th Basantakumar from Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat

A reception ceremony for Th Basantakumar was held at the party office. Basantakumar said his top priority, if elected, would be “peace” and to resolve the 10-month-old crisis gripping the state.

Meanwhile, Singh appealed to the people to help resolve the persisting crisis in the state and save the indigenous population by supporting Basantakumar. “By supporting the BJP, the people will not only help resolve the crisis but also safeguard the territorial integrity of Manipur and the indigenous population,” added Biren.

With this, so far, there are altogether six candidates in the fray for the two parliamentary seats of Manipur. Notably, in the Outer constituency, the BJP had announced support to the Naga People’s Front (NPF) candidate K Timothy Zimik.

Opposition Congress is contesting in both the constituencies and has fielded former MLA Alfred K Arthur from the Outer seat and JNU Professor Bimol Akoijam from the Inner seat.

While Maheswar Thounaojam was named the candidate of the Republican Party of India (Athawale), actor turned social activist, R K Somendro, popularly known as Kaiku, had filed his nomination as a Manipur People’s Party (MPP) candidate from the Inner seat.

While the last date for filing the nomination papers is Wednesday, the Kuki-Zo community is unlikely to field any candidate. Earlier, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) had announced that the Kuki-Zo community would not field any candidate citing the plight that the community is facing.

The scrutiny of the nomination papers will be held on March 28. The last date of withdrawal of candidature is on March 30 at 3 pm. Manipur will go to polls in two phases, April 19 and April 26, for the two parliamentary seats.