In the second phase of Lok Sabha polls scheduled for April 26, a total of 1,210 candidates are contesting, as announced by the Election Commission on Tuesday. Among the states participating, Kerala leads with 500 nominations across its 20 parliamentary constituencies, followed by Karnataka with 491 nominations for its 14 seats.
Conversely, Tripura had the lowest number of nominations with only 14 received from a single constituency. Meanwhile, Nanded seat in Maharashtra recorded the highest number of nominations at 92.
Overall, 2,633 nominations were filed for the 88 constituencies across 12 states and Union Territories participating in the second phase of elections.
After scrutinizing the 2,633 nominations filed, 1,428 were deemed valid. However, following withdrawals by some candidates, the number of contenders remaining in the race stands at 1,210.
The deadline for withdrawal from the electoral race was Monday.
Fifteen assembly segments within the Outer Manipur parliamentary constituency are scheduled for polls on April 19 in phase one, while 13 assembly segments will go to polls on April 26 in phase two.
There are four candidates contesting from the Outer Manipur seat.
In phase two, notable candidates include Rahul Gandhi (Congress), Annie Raja (LDF), and K Surendran (BJP) from Wayanad in Kerala.
Likewise, in Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Rajeev Chandrasekhar (BJP), and Pannian Raveendran (LDF) are competing against each other.
In Rajasthan, the Speaker of the outgoing Lok Sabha, Om Birla, is contesting from Kota, while Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is a candidate from Jodhpur. Similarly, BJP State President C P Joshi is contesting from Chittorgarh.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024
The general assembly polls will be conducted from April 19 to June 1, 2024. The Lok Sabha elections are slated to be held in seven phases. The counting of votes for the 18th Lok Sabha elections will be held on June 4.
Lok Sabha elections is scheduled to be held in all seven phases in three states: Bihar, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh, while Maharashtra will vote in five phases. Madhya Pradesh will witness voting in four phases. Karnataka and Rajasthan will go to the polls in two phases, while Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh will vote in a single phase.