The forthcoming elections to 17 Lok Sabha seats in the State scheduled on May 13 are likely to witness multi-cornered contests in at least some constituencies.
Around 100 candidates withdrew their nominations on Monday, the last day for withdrawal of nominations, leaving 525 candidates in the fray. This means there will be 30 contestants in the fray, a majority of them independents, from each constituency.
According to information, the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat reported the highest number of withdrawals at 15 leaving 22 candidates in the fray followed by the Bhongir constituency where 12 candidates withdrew their papers leaving 39 in the contest. Following the withdrawals, Secunderabad now has the highest number of contestants at 45 closely followed by Medak (44), Chevella (43) and Peddapalli and Warangal constituencies reserved for scheduled castes having 42 contestants each.
Adilabad has the lowest number of 12 candidates in the fray after one candidate withdrew his papers on the last day and Zaheerabad and Nagarkurnool (SC) constituencies have 19 contestants each. Nalgonda Lok Sabha seat has 22 contestants and Mahbubabad (ST) 23 contestants after the closing time of withdrawal of nominations.
The constituencies where the number of contestants is 30 or more are Khammam (35), Mahbubnagar (31) and Hyderabad (30). Karimnagar and Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituencies, considered as important seats by three major political parties, have 28 and 29 contestants in the fray respectively.
The Election Commission on Saturday rejected 428 nominations out of the 1,488 filed and as many as multiple nominations filed by the candidates and their supporters numbering 268 leaving 625 candidates in the fray. The number has come down further after the last date for withdrawal of nominations.
