1,210 in poll race across 13 states for phase two

NEW DELHI: As many as 1,210 candidates are in fray for phase two of Lok Sabha polls to be held on April 26, the Election Commission said on Tuesday.

In phase two, Kerala has a maximum of 500 nominations from 20 parliamentary constituencies, followed by 491 nominations from 14 seats in Karnataka.

The least number of 14 nominations were received from one constituency in Tripura, while Nanded seat in Maharashtra received a maximum of 92 nominations, the poll authority said.

A total of 2,633 nominations were filed for 88 constituencies across 12 states and UTs going for polls in phase two. After the scrutiny of 2,633 nominations filed, 1,428 were found to be valid.

But after some candidates withdrew nominations, 1,210 remain in race. Monday was the last day to withdraw from the electoral race.

Fifteen assembly segments in Outer Manipur parliamentary constituency will go to polls on April 19 in phase one and 13 assembly segments of the Lok Sabha seat will go to polls on April 26 in phase two.

Four candidates are contesting from the Outer Manipur seat. In phase two, prominent candidates include Rahul Gandhi (Congress), Annie Raja (LDF) and K Surendran (BJP) from Wayanad in Kerala.

Similarly, from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor (Cong), Rajeev Chandrasekhar (BJP) and Pannian Raveendran (LDF) are pitted against each other.

In Rajasthan, speaker of the outgoing Lok Sabha Om Birla is contesting from Kota, while Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is candidate from Jodhpur. Similarly, BJP state president CP Joshi is contesting from Chittorgarh. LS polls will be held in seven-phases.