Poll campaigning missing in Manipur amid violence
Manipur parliamentary seat seems to have turned into a bipolar contest between Thounaojam Basanta Kumar Singh of BJP and Angomcha Bimol Akoijam of Congress.
The high decibel campaign that this seat witnessed in past elections is missing as the situation remains tense in the northeastern state that has been engulfed by ethnic violence since May last year. In fact, chief minister N Biren Singh recently had to tell his party workers to engage with people and that there is nothing to fear.
In the 17th Lok Sabha, Inner Manipur was represented by BJP's Rajkumar Ranjan who served in the Modi cabinet as the minister of state. BJP's Basanta Kumar, a voluntarily retired IPS officer, inherits a political legacy from his father Thounaojam Chaoba, a former Union minister in the Vajpayee government.
His main rival, Akoijam of Congress is a newcomer to politics. An associate professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, he emerged as a vocal advocate against false narratives surrounding the unrest in Manipur.
There are four other candidates vying for the Inner Manipur seat, including popular film stars Rajkumar Samendro Singh, known as Kaiku, and Maheshwar Thounaojam. The other two candidates are retired colonel Haorungbam Sarat Singh and social worker Moirangthem Tomtomshana Nongshaba.
The frontrunners though are clearly NDA's Kumar and Akoijam, backed by the INDIA bloc.With exposure to national politics during his tenure as a resident commissioner and officer on special duty to his father, Kumar has pledged to prioritise the state's development and communal harmony if he wins. He has also vowed to tackle the ongoing crisis by bridging community divides and advocating for the welfare of internally displaced persons.
