More candidates, including Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan and former Finance Minister T. M. Thomas Isaac, filed their nomination papers on Saturday for the April 26 Lok Sabha election in Kerala.
In all, 20 nomination papers were filed on Saturday. Friday had been a holiday on account of Good Friday.
Mr. Muraleedharan, who is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in Attingal, submitted his papers before the Additional District Magistrate, Thiruvananthapuram, the Returning Officer for Attingal. Mr. Isaac, who is the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate in Pathanamthitta, filed his papers before the Pathanamthitta Collector.
M. K. Raghavan, the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate in the Kozhikode constituency, former General Education Minister C. Raveendranath, who is the LDF candidate in Chalakudy, and K. S. Radhakrishnan, the BJP candidate in Ernakulam, also filed their nominations on Saturday.
On Saturday, four nominations were filed in the Kozhikode constituency, three in the Malappuram constituency, five in Chalakudy, one in Ernakulam, two in Kottayam, three in Pathanamthitta, and two in Attingal.
Candidates are likely to file multiple sets of nominations. Filing of nominations for the Lok Sabha polls had begun on Thursday. April 4 is the last day for filing nominations. March 31, Sunday, and April 1, Monday, too are holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act. The scrutiny of the nominations will take place on April 5. April 8 is the last date for withdrawal of the nominations.