GUWAHATI
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday named Manipur’s Education Minister, Thounaojam Basanta Kumar Singh as its candidate from the Inner Manipur Lok Sabha constituency encompassing 32 Assembly segments across the conflict-scarred Imphal Valley.
The seat is currently held by the BJP’s Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, the Minister of State for External Affairs.
A former IPS officer, the Inner Manipur candidate is the son of former Union Minister Thounaojam Chaoba Singh. His rivals are Angomcha Bimol Akoijam of Congress, a Professor from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and two Manipuri film stars — Thounaojam Maheshwar Singh of the Republican Party of India (Athawale) and Rajkumar Somorendra Singh of the Manipur People Party.
Before his nomination, Manipur Chief Minister, Nongthombam Biren Singh said the BJP will win the Inner Manipur seat by a huge margin. “Speeches and qualification used to matter but voters today want a representative who loves the land and its people,” he said.
Inner Manipur is one of two parliamentary constituencies in the State. The BJP did not field any candidate for the Outer Manipur constituency, where it has decided to support the candidate of its ally, the Naga People’s Front.
The non-tribal Meitei people dominate the Inner Manipur constituency while the Outer Manipur seat comprising the hills and foothills are inhabited by the Naga and Kuki-Zomi-Hmar communities.
The BJP also announced the names of candidates for 18 Assembly seats in Sikkim. The party released the list of candidates for 14 Assembly seats and the lone Lok Sabha candidate on March 24, signalling an end to its alliance with the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM).
Among the 18 candidates named on Tuesday are two women, including Aruna Manger, the lone woman who will face Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang’s wife Krishna Kumari Rai of the SKM from the Namchi-Singhithang constituency.
Nominations filed
Meanwhile, Union Ministers and BJP candidates Kiren Rijiju and Sarbananda Sonowal filed their nomination papers from the Arunachal West and Dibrugarh parliamentary constituencies, respectively.
Mr. Rijiju is seeking his fourth term — third consecutively — from Arunachal West, one of two Lok Sabha seats in India’s easternmost State. Mr. Sonowal, the former Assam Chief Minister and a Rajya Sabha member now, won the Dibrugarh constituency in 2004 before shifting to and winning the Lakhimpur seat in 2014.
Among the other key candidates who filed their nomination papers on Tuesday are former Union Minister Agatha K. Sangma of the National People’s Party from the Tura seat in Meghalaya, incumbent BJP parliamentarian Tapir Gao from Arunachal East, the Sikkim Chief Minister for the SKM from the Soreng-Chakung Assembly seat, and Arunachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Pasang Dorjee Sona for the BJP from the Mechukha seat. The Congress’ Gaurav Gogoi also filed his nomination papers on Tuesday. An MP representing the non-existent Koliabor constituency, he is contesting the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat.
