HYDERABAD: A day after the deadline ended, election officials on Thursday said that as many as 608 candidates withdrew their nomination papers, leaving 2,290 contestants in the fray for the Telangana Assembly elections slated for November 30. After scrutiny on Monday, 2,898 nominations were found valid.
Gajwel constituency witnessed 70 withdrawals, while 45 candidates withdrew their papers in Medchal and 19 in Kamareddy. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is facing BJP’s Eatala Rajender in Gajwel and A Revanth Reddy of the Congress in Kamareddy.
LB Nagar constituency in Greater Hyderabad limits has 48 candidates in the fray, the highest. Gajwel has 44 contestants, Kamareddy 39, while Munugode, Palair, and Nampally segments have 39, 37, and 34 contestants respectively. Banswada and Narayanpet have the lowest contestant count at 7 each. Balkonda will see a contest among eight candidates.
Constituencies with a relatively low number of candidates include Narayanpet, Banswada, Balkonda, Secunderabad Cantonment, Manakondur, Boath, Yellareddy, Narsapur, Mulugu, Dubbak, Khanapur, Makthal, Chevella and Devarkadra.
In the Hyderabad district, 312 candidates are vying for 15 Assembly seats. Several constituencies like Malakpet, Amberpet, Nampally, Charminar, Yakutpura, Bahadurpura, Parigi, Vikarabad, Narayanpet, Gadwal, Devarakonda and Bhadrachalam saw no withdrawal of nominations.
Meanwhile, political maneuvering continues, with leaders from Congress and other major parties initially filing nominations as independents, withdrawing in favor of the official candidates after they were pacified by senior leaders.
The BRS is contesting all 119 seats on its own, while Congress has allocated one seat for its ally CPI. The BJP is contesting 111 seats and has left the remaining for its ally Jana Sena Party. The AIMIM is contesting nine seats and supporting the BRS in the remaining constituencies.
48 candidates in the fray in LB Nagar
LB Nagar constituency in Greater Hyderabad limits has 48 candidates in the fray, the highest. Gajwel has 44 contestants, Kamareddy 39, while Munugode, Palair, and Nampally segments have 39, 37, and 34 contestants respectively. Banswada and Narayanpet have the lowest contestant count at 7 each. Balkonda will see a contest among eight candidates.