Union minister and former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda on Tuesday filed his nomination as the BJP candidate for the Khunti Lok Sabha constituency in the state.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLA Joba Manjhi also filed her nomination during the day as the INDIA bloc candidate for the Singhbhum (ST) Lok Sabha seat.

Jharkhand BJP president Babulal Marandi, AJSU Party chief Sudesh Mahto and other senior leaders accompanied Munda when he submitted his nomination papers to the returning officer at the Khunti district collectorate.

Before filing his nomination, Munda offered prayers at a temple in Khunti.

“I prayed for the well-being of everyone and to serve the people of the country constantly under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Munda said.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Munda had won by a narrow margin of 1445 votes, defeating the Congress's Kalicharan Munda who is again contesting from Khunti.

The Khunti parliamentary constituency will go to polls on May 13 along with Singhbum, Lohardaga and Palamu.

JMM leader Joba Manjhi, Singhbhum candidate and a former state minister, was accompanied by Chief Minister Champai Soren and Kalpana Soren, wife of jailed former CM Hemant Soren, when she filed her nomination at the West Singbhum district collectorate.

Manjhi, the MLA of the Manoharpur assembly constituency, will take on Geeta Kora, who switched to the BJP from the Congress on February 26.

Kora, who filed her nomination for the seat on Monday, was the lone Congress MP from Jharkhand in the outgoing Lok Sabha.