Stage is now set for stiff contests to the various local bodies in Pathanamthitta with the deadline to withdraw nominations expiring on Monday.
With 16 candidates withdrawing their nominations on the final day, 60 persons including 26 women will now be contesting to the 16 divisions in the Pathanamthitta district panchayat. Though the authorities had received as many as 147 nominations, three were rejected during the scrutiny last week.
Ranni division, which has seven persons in the fray, has the highest number of contestants while eight divisions including Pulikkeezhu, Mallapally, Pulickal and Kozhencherry divisions are set to witness a direct battle between the candidates fielded by the three major coalitions.
Five divisions including Angadi, Konni and Pramadam have four candidates each while the Enathu division has five contestants.
While one nomination each to 10 divisions including Ranni and Koyipram was withdrawn during the day, two persons each to the Konni, Elanthur and Enathu divisions also withdrew from the contest.
Meanwhile, a total of 2,803 candidates including 1,533 women will be contesting across the 53 gram panchayats in the district as only 819 nominations were withdrawn on the final day. Pallickal panchayat has the highest number of candidates with 77 persons in the fray, closely followed by Koyipram and Eraviperoor respectively with 76 and 75 candidates.
With 43 women in the fray, Pallickal also accounts for the highest number of women candidates, followed by Kalanjoor with 42.
As many as 494 candidates including 259 women will be contesting to the four municipalities in the district. Among these, Thiruvalla has 84 women candidates, followed by Pandalam with 67 women. Of the 86 nominations withdrawn, 33 were from Pathanamthitta.
Similarly, 342 persons including 189 women are contesting to the eight block panchayats as 64 nominations were withdrawn till Monday evening. Parakkodu block, which has 47 persons in the fray, has the highest number of candidates.
