A total of 109 candidates on Saturday withdrew their nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, leaving 435 contestants in the fray.
Saturday was the last day for withdrawal of candidature for the April 17 elections in the State. Election authorities had received 544 candidatures between March 19 and 26.
Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha told presspersons that among those who withdrew their papers was Shivanand Naik of the Janata Dal (Secular) in Uttara Kannada.
With this, Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party candidates are contesting in all the 28 constituencies and Janata Dal (Secular) candidates in 25 constituencies.
The constituency-wise break-up of the number of candidates is as follows: Chikkodi – 12; Belgaum – 13; Shimoga, Bijapur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Bangalore North and Chamarajanagar – 14 each; Gulbarga – eight; Raichur – 24; Koppal – 16; Bellary – 12; Haveri, Davangere and Chickballapur – 19 each; Dharwad – 17; Uttara Kannada – nine; Udupi–Chickmaglur – 11; Tumkur and Mandya – 16 each; Mysore and Bangalore Rural – 15 each; Bangalore Central – 26; Bangalore South – 23 and Kolar – 22.
There are 412 men and 23 women in the fray.
Mr. Jha said the Election Commission was examining whether BJP’s complaint against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s comments on BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was a case of violation of the model code of conduct. The BJP has provided a video clip of Mr. Siddaramaiah’s speech to the commission.
Mr. Jha said that on Saturday a total of Rs. 55.1 lakh in cash that was unaccounted for was seized in Koppal, Hassan and Dharwad.
