795 nominations filed, Nizamabad tops list

Hyderabad: The filing of nominations for the April 11 Lok Sabha elections from Telangana state ended on Monday, leaving the contestants a fortnight for canvassing.

Several prominent leaders filed their papers on Monday, but there was attention on the Nizamabad constituency from where 242 farmers entered the fray. Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar said 795 nominations were filed for the 17 seats. Nizamabad recorded the highest number of nominations with 245 and Adilabad the lowest at 21.

He said if the total number of candidates was more than 90 after scrutiny and withdrawals, the election would be held by ballot paper. Mr Kumar said rules were not violated in receiving the nomination papers from farmers. The scrutiny will be held on Tuesday.

Mr Kumar said that following a complaint by the Congress that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was using his official residence for political activities, the CEO had written to the TRS. The Chief Electoral Office had said that official residences not be used for political activities. He said that the Election Commission was considering the comments reportedly made by Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan on TS who said, “Is it Telangana or Pakistan” while campaigning in AP.