Thirteen more candidates from Ernakulam and Chalakkudy constituencies filed their nominations with the election officer and District Collector M.G. Rajamanickam on Friday. The deadline for filing of nominations will expire on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Apart from Aam Admi Party candidate Anita Pratap, Independents and candidates of the SDPI, CPI(ML), and BSP were among those who filed the nominations.
The scrutiny of nominations will be conducted on March 24. Nominations can be withdrawn till 3 p.m. on March 26.
Till Friday, 13 candidates have filed their nominations from the Chalakudy constituency and 16 from Ernakulam. In 2009, ten candidates had filed their nominations from Ernakulam and 11 from Chalakudy.
Polling stationsVoting in the Lok Sabha elections will be held in 2,027 polling stations arranged in 1,146 locations. One to six polling stations would function in each building identified as polling stations. There will not be a single polling station in urban areas in Vypeen, Kunnathunadu, and Piravom Assembly constituencies.
Interestingly, of the 1,146 locations where polling booths are being arranged, 839 are in rural areas and just 307 in urban areas. This effectively puts two-thirds of the total polling stations in rural areas. Of the 2,027 polling stations, only 563 are in urban areas while 1,464 are in rural areas.
Kunnathunadu Assembly constituency with 171 polling booths will account for the most number of booths in a single constituency. Ernakulam with 122 polling booths is placed at the bottom in terms of the number of polling booths. However, 104 of these booths are in urban areas with just 18 in rural areas.
But the credit for having most number of polling stations in urban areas goes to Thrikkakara Assembly constituency where 109 of the 147 booths are in urban areas. Of the 148 polling booths in the Kochi Assembly constituency, 106 are in urban areas and 42 in rural areas. All the 138 booths in Vypeen and 134 booths in Piravom will be in rural areas.
The Muvattupuzha Assembly constituency will have the least number of constituencies in urban areas — just 15. Of the 154 polling booths in the Perumbavoor Assembly constituency, 135 will be in rural areas and 19 in urban areas and it will be 124 and 20 for the Angamaly Assembly constituency. In Aluva, 125 booths will be rural ones and 19 urban. In Kalamassery, 108 and 42 are in urban rural areas respectively while in Paravur 141 booths will be in rural areas and 21 in urban areas.
In Tripunithura, 69 booths will be in rural areas and 82 in urban areas while the respective numbers for Kothamanaglam will be 119 and 26.
