K. Francis George, the candidate fielded by the United Democratic Front in Kottayam, filed the nomination papers on Thursday to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He submitted three sets of nominations before the returning officer and District Collector V. Vigneswari.
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Mr. George was accompanied by MLAs Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Mons Joseph, DCC president Nattakom Suresh, and Muslim League district president Aziz Badayil. In his election affidavit, Mr. George has declared movable assets worth ₹61.98 lakh, while his wife Shiny Francis possesses movable assets worth ₹51.83 lakh. George owns immovable assets worth ₹6.88 crore, while his wife has assets worth ₹1.14 crore.
Besides Mr. George, seven others filed their nominations on Thursday, taking the total number of candidates in Kottayam to 17.
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As the deadline for filing nominations ended on Thursday, ten candidates submitted their nominations to contest from the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency.
On the final day, seven new candidates filed fresh nominations, while the candidates of the three leading fronts filed an additional set of papers each. The candidates who entered the election fray on the final day are: M.K. Harikumar of the Ambedkarite Party of India, Geethakrishnan of the Bahujan Samajwadi Party, Joy P. Mathew of the People’s Party of India (Secular), and V. Anoop, an independent candidate.
Raju Abraham of the CPI(M) and S. Jayashankar of the BJP also filed nominations as dummy candidates.
The nominations will be scrutinized on Friday, and the candidates will be permitted to withdraw their nominations till April 8.