Bengaluru: About 3,600 plus candidates have filed a total of 5,102 nominations after the filing of nomination papers for Karnataka assembly polls ended on Thursday, according to the Election Commission.
The scrutiny of the nomination papers is underway, and the last day for the withdrawal of the candidature is April 24, it stated.
Of the total of 5,102 nominations, 4,710 were filed by 3,327 male candidates, and 391 were filed by 304 female candidates. One nomination has been filed by another gender candidate,” EC said in a statement.
The BJP filed the highest number of nominations, followed by Congress and JDS, it said. As many as 707 nominations have been filed by BJP candidates, while 651 and 455 nominations were filed by Congress and JDS candidates, respectively.
The remaining nominations were filed by other fringe parties and independents. As per Election Commission rules, a candidate can file four nominations.
On the last day for filing nominations, HP Swaroop of the JDS filed his papers for the Hassan seat on Thursday, while the BJP’s Channabasappa and Jayaram filed nominations for Shivamogga and Mandya, respectively.
Channabasappa was accompanied by sitting MLA KS Eshwarappa, and Jayaram was accompanied by Independent MP Sumalatha Ambareesh and Minister CN Ashwath Narayan.
However, DK Suresh hogged the limelight when he filed a nomination from the Kanakapura constituency, where his elder brother DK Shivakumar is contesting on a Congress ticket.
Suresh had filed his nomination as a safety measure in case Shivakumar’s nomination got rejected.
Karnataka will go to the polls on May 10, and the counting of votes is scheduled for May 13.
