Over 600 nominations rejected for Telangana polls

Hyderabad : Nominations of 606 candidates have been rejected for Assembly elections in Telangana scheduled to be held on November 30. The returning officers of all 119 assembly constituencies in the state took up scrutiny of nominations on Monday.

Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj announced on Tuesday that nomination papers of 606 have been rejected. Majority of the candidates whose nominations were rejected were independents or belonging to smaller parties. The returning officers found 2,898 nominations as valid.

Maximum number of candidates (114) are in Gajwel constituency, where Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) President K. Chandrasekhar Rao is seeking re-election for a third consecutive term. In Gajwel which is in KCR’s home district Siddipet, the BJP has fielded its MLA and former minister Eatala Rajender, who is also contesting from Huzurabad, a seat which he won in the by-election as BJP candidate in 2021 after KCR dropped him from the Cabinet.

This time, KCR is also contesting from Kamareddy constituency, where 58 candidates are in fray. Here, he faces state Congress President A. Revanth Reddy, who has also entered the fray from his home constituency Kodangal, where only 15 candidates are in fray.

There are 67 candidates in Medchal, where Labour Minister Malla Reddy is contesting again as BRS candidate. Only seven candidates are testing their fortunes in Narayanpet constituency in Mahabubnagar district. There are nine candidates in Balkonda. The last day for withdrawal of nominations is November 15.

The BRS is contesting all 119 seats on its own while Congress has left one seat for its ally CPI. The BJP is contesting 111 seats and has left the remaining seats for its ally Jana Sena Party. MIM is contesting nine seats and backing the BRS in the remaining seats.