Hyderabad: The procedure of withdrawal of nominations for the assembly elections in Telangana ended on Thursday with 1821 candidates left in the poll fray for a total of 119 constituencies, an official statement released by the office of Telangana Chief Electoral Officer said.
As per a report by the office of the CEO, 2653 candidates had filed nominations and among them 465 nominations were rejected by the returning officers due to various reasons. The total number of valid nominations identified by the poll officers stood at 2188.
A total of 367candidates, including a large number of Congress rebels withdrew their nominations on Thursday.
With 42 candidates, Malkajgiri constituency has the highest number of contestants in fray, while Uppal registered second highest number of contestants with 35 candidates. Banswada has 6 candidates, which is the least.
Meanwhile, a high-level team from the Election Commission of India led by Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat is visiting Hyderabad on a two-day visit to review poll arrangements in Telangana. The CEC team held a meeting with various political parties leaders on Thursday. Out of 11, 9 parties’ representatives attended the meeting.
YSRCP and Trinamool congress skipped the meeting.
Under the ‘Praja Kutami’ or grand alliance, the Congress, TJS, TDP and CPI have entered into a seat-sharing agreement to fight the elections together. Candidates of the ruling TRS will contest from all the 119 constituencies.
The Telangana assembly elections are scheduled for December 7 and the counting of votes will take place on December 11.