Imphal, Mar 16 (IANS): Even though the Communist Party of India (CPI) is a partner in the 10 'like-minded' parties’ alliance in Manipur led by the Congress, the Left party on Saturday nominated Laishram Sotinkumar as its candidate from the Inner Manipur Lok Sabha constituency.

A CPI leader said that the party's national executive meeting held on March 14 decided to field Sotinkumar, a former state council secretary, from the Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat.

A veteran Left leader, Sotinkumar is currently serving as the General Secretary of the AITUC in Manipur.

The ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress are yet to announce their candidates.

Manipur has two Lok Sabha seats -- Inner Manipur and Outer Manipur (ST) -- where elections will be held in two phases on April 19 and April 26, respectively.

Since the outbreak of ethnic violence in Manipur on May 3 last year, the Congress-led alliance has held many agitations and events demanding the restoration of normalcy in the state.

Besides the Congress and the CPI, the other parties part of the alliance are the Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress, CPI-M, Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Shiv Sena-UBT, Janata Dal-United and the Nationalist Congress Party.