As the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended on Thursday, as many as 66 candidates, including a few rebel candidates of mainstream political parties, withdrew their nomination papers leaving 420 candidates in the fray.
Polling for 82 wards in the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation elections is scheduled to be held on September 3. Nomination papers of a total of 486 candidates were declared valid after scrutiny on Tuesday.
Among the 486 candidates, a total of 66 candidates withdrew their nomination papers before the deadline, according to a press release from Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad Nitesh Patil. That leaves 420 candidates in the contest.
While both the Congress and the BJP have fielded their candidates in all the 82 wards, the Janata Dal(Secular) has fielded 49 candidates.
The Aam Aadmi Party has 41 candidates contesting the elections, while AIMIM with 12, Uttama Prajakiya 11, Bahujan Samaj Party seven, Karnataka Rashra Samiti four, SDPI four, Karnataka Shiva Sene four, Karnataka Jana Seve Party with four candidates are also in the fray. There are 122 independent candidates.
Ward number 8 has the highest number of contestants with 11, while ward numbers 14, 19, 44, 57, 80 and 58 have two candidates each.
