The Manipur unit of the Congress on Friday identified the party’s candidates for the two Lok Sabha constituencies in the State.
Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Meghachandra told journalists in the State’s capital Imphal that Professor Angomcha Bimol Akoijam and former MLA Alfred Kanngam Arthur would be nominated from the Inner Manipur and Outer Manipur constituencies.
Former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and other senior party leaders were present at the briefing.
“We have received information from our party headquarters about the two candidates,” Mr. Meghachandra said.
Professor Akoijam, from the Imphal Valley, teaches at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, while Mr. Arthur, based in the hill district of Ukhrul, has already hit the campaign trail.
The latter will face Timothy Zimik of the Nagaland-born Naga People’s Front (NPF), an ally of the BJP in Manipur, in Outer Manipur. The constituency is currently held by the NPF’s Lorho S. Pfoze.
Armed miscreants have over the past few days fired at Mr. Arthur at least thrice when he was campaigning. He escaped unhurt.
The Outer Manipur constituency is reserved for the Scheduled Tribes. It encompasses 28 of the State’s 60 Assembly segments.
Of these 28 seats, 20 are spread across the hills inhabited by the Nagas and the Kuki-Zomi people. The remaining eight are located in the foothills of Imphal Valley and dominated by the non-tribal Meiteis.
The Inner Manipur seat comprises 32 Assembly segments in the Imphal Valley.
The BJP, which rules the State, is yet to announce the names of its candidates.
The State will go for election in the first two phases on April 19 and 26 in the backdrop of the ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kukis which killed more than 210 people and uprooted some 60,000.
