EC rejects 606 nominations in Telangana

Hyderabad: The Election Commission has rejected as many as 606 candidates’ nomination papers for the upcoming Assembly elections after scrutiny by the State Chief Electoral Officer. BJP legislator Eatala Rajender’s wife Jamuna from Huzurabad and senior Congress leader K Jana Reddy’s nomination from Nagarjunasagar were among the nominations rejected for not furnishing required information.

The highest number, 114, candidates have filed nominations from BRS supremo K Chandrashekar Rao’s Gajwel constituency, followed by Medchal (57) and LB Nagar (50).

As the last date for withdrawal of nominations is Wednesday, parties are busy to convince the rebels and other party candidates to withdraw to ensure that voters are not confused during polling.

The electoral officer said a total of 5,716 sets of nominations were received by the returning officers from 4,798 candidates for 119 constituencies since November 3. Majority of the candidates were independents. Officials said 2,898 nominations were validated from all constituencies.

Kamareddy, where KCR is also contesting, received 58 nominations. Interestingly, about 50 were filed by candidates in Kamareddy and Gajwel where KCR is the nominee. He is facing State Congress president A Revanth Reddy in Kamareddy. Reddy has also entered the fray from his home constituency Kodangal, where only 15 candidates are contesting.

The other constituencies which saw high nominations include 67 candidates (Medchal), 57 (LB Nagar), 50 (Munugode). The least number of nominations were in Narayanpet (seven) and Balkonda (nine).

The BRS is contesting all 119 seats, while the Congress has left one seat to ally the CPI.

The BJP is contesting 111 seats; left the remaining seats to ally Jana Sena Party. The MIM is contesting nine seats and backing the ruling party in the remaining seats.