HYDERABAD: With returning officers declaring 114 of the 145 sets of nomination papers filed for the constituency valid, the spotlight is well and truly on the Gajwel Assembly segment from where Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is in the fray.With scrutiny of nomination papers ending on Tuesday, the poll officials said that 35 sets of papers were rejected. Importantly, the nomination papers filed by BJP candidate and former minister Eatala Rajender were found to be in order.
Rajender is also in the fray for the Huzurabad seat which he won in the 2021 byelection on the BJP ticket after parting ways with the TRS (now BRS).In Kamareddy, the other Assembly constituency where KCR is in contention, 58 nominations were deemed valid. TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy is challenging KCR in Kamareddy. Interestingly, 92 sets of nominations were filed in Kamareddy. The ROs deemed 67 nominations valid in Medchal, 57 in LB Nagar, 36 in Serilingampally, 50 in Munugode and 23 in Sircilla.
A total of 2,898 nominations received for the 119 Assembly constituencies in the state were deemed valid after scrutiny by returning officers, while 606 were rejected on various grounds. As many as 4,798 candidates had filed 5,716 sets of nominations by the deadline on November 10. The withdrawal of candidatures is slated for November 15, voting will take place on November 30 and the votes will be counted on December 3, 2023.
Election authorities said that a majority of rejected nominations belong to independent candidates or those affiliated with smaller parties. The BRS is contesting all the 119 seats, while the Congress has reserved one seat for its ally CPI. The BJP is contesting 111 seats, leaving the rest for its ally Jana Sena Party. The AIMIM has fielded candidates in nine seats and has declared support for the BRS in the others.
Interestingly, veteran Congress leader K Jana Reddy’s nomination papers for the Nagarjuna Sagar seat were rejected while his son Jaiveer Reddy’s papers were accepted. Also, the returning officers rejected the papers filed by Rajender’s wife Eatala Jamuna in both Huzurabad and Gajwel.