New Delhi/Imphal, Mar 26 (IANS): A day before the last day for filing nominations, Manipur's ruling BJP on Tuesday named state Education and Law Minister Thounaojam Basanta Kumar Singh as its candidate for the Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat, which goes to polls in the first phase of the parliamentary elections.

The BJP's Central Election Committee announced the name of the state minister, who replaces sitting MP and Union Minister Rajkumar Ranjan Singh.

Basanta Kumar Singh, 59, would contest against Congress candidate Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, a Professor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, and the consensus nominee of the 10-party alliance in Manipur.

The son of former Union Minister Thounaojam Chaoba Singh, Basanta Kumar Singh was elected to the Assembly in the 2022 elections from Nambol constituency in Bishnupur district.

Chaoba Singh, a former state President of the BJP, is one of the architects of setting up the organisational base of the party in Manipur.

Party sources said that the BJP's central leadership had asked Chief Minister N. Biren Singh to contest in the Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat but he reportedly declined.

"Biren Singh is a most popular leader among the Meitei and other communities. His presence in the state and to continue as Chief Minister is vital given the ethnic strife in Manipur," a senior BJP leader, who did not want to be named, told IANS.

Manipur has two Lok Sabha seats -- Inner Manipur and Outer Manipur (reserved for tribals). Polling would be held in the Inner Manipur parliamentary constituency in the first phase of polling on April 19, and Outer Manipur would go to polls in two phases – April 19 and April 26.