In all, 247 candidates are in the fray for the first of the two-phase Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka, polling for which will be held on April 26, after the last date for the withdrawal of nominations on Monday.
Of 300 candidates, who filed valid nomination papers by the deadline on April 4, a total of 53 withdrew from the contest by Monday.
After scrutiny of the 492 sets of nominations filed by 358 candidates for the April 26 polls, the Election Commission rejected 74 nominations by Saturday.
According to data from the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for Karnataka, one candidate withdrew on April 6 and 52 on Monday.
Women candidates
According to the final list of candidates shared by the Election Commission, 21 of the 247 candidates are women. With six women candidates contesting from Bengaluru North, this constituency has the highest number of female contestants. While the BJP has fielded incumbent Minister Shobha Karandlaje in this constituency, the Congress’ M.V. Rajeev Gowda is in the fray.
While Bengaluru Central and Bengaluru South have three women candidates each, two are in the fray in Chitradurga.
Dakshina Kannada, Tumakuru, Mandya, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Bengaluru Rural, and Chickballapur have one woman candidate each.
Highest in Chickballapur
At 29, the highest number of candidates in the fray are from Chickballapur where three aspirants have withdrawn. The constituency - where former Health and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar and Raksha Ramaiah, son of former Minister M.R. Seetharam, are the prominent contestants - also had the highest number of validly nominated candidates.
Chickballapur is followed by Bengaluru Central where 24 candidates are in the fray. Four candidates withdrew from the contest here by Monday. While Bengaluru South has 22 candidates in the fray, Bengaluru North has 21 followed by 20 in Chitradurga.
Hassan and Bengaluru Rural - where former Minister H.D. Revanna’s son Prajwal Revanna and his cardiologist uncle C.N. Manjunath are contesting respectively - have 15 candidates each. While Mr. Revanna is contesting on a JD(S) ticket, Dr. Manjunath is the BJP’s candidate in Bengaluru Rural.
Least number
With nine candidates in the fray, Dakshina Kannada has the least number of contestants followed by Udupi-Chikkamagaluru where 10 aspirants are contesting.
Bengaluru Rural sees highest withdrawals
At 12, the highest number of aspirants withdrawing from the fray are from Bengaluru Rural followed by Chamarajanagar where eight have come out from the contest. Bengaluru North and Udupi-Chikkamagaluru have zero withdrawals while one candidate each has withdrawn from Kolar and Dakshina Kannada.
