Nearly 700 nominations filed for LS polls in Telangana

Filing of nominations for the April 11 Lok Sabha elections in Telangana came to a close Monday.

State Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar said as per initial figures, a total of 699 nominations had been filed for the 17 constituencies in the state as of Monday evening.

The final tally may go up as the process of compilation was on, he told reporters here.

The scrutiny would take place Tuesday and the last date for withdrawal is March 28.

The process of filing nominations began on March 18.

State Congress chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy (from Nalgonda), AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi (Hyderabad), former union minister Renuka Choudhary (Khammam), TRS MP K Kavitha (Nizamabad), daughter of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, are among the prominent candidates who have filed their nominations.

The ruling TRS is going it alone in the Lok Sabha polls and it has fielded candidates in all the 17 constituencies.

Though TRS is contesting the Hyderabad seat, it has been publicly supporting its ally Owaisi, who is pitching for TRS' victory in remaining 16 constituencies.

The main opposition Congress is going it alone and fielded nominees in all the seats.

AICC incharge of party affairs in Telangana RC Khuntia appealed to TDP, CPI and other opposition parties to support the Congress in constituencies where they are not in the fray.

Significantly, TDP on Monday decided not to field candidates in Telangana in the Lok Sabha elections, a first since its formation in 1982.

Congress had requested the regional party's support, TDP sources said.

BJP is also contesting the polls on its own. It has denied ticket to its sitting MP and former union minister Bandaru Dattatreya.

The CPI-M and CPI are contesting two seats each.

Protesting alleged failure of Centre and the state government in ensuring remunerative prices for their produce, turmeric farmers in Nizamabad region have filed nominations in large numbers.

Some have already filed nominations, a farmers' leader said. The target was to file 1,000 nominations, he had said.

According to the CEO, as many as 245 nominations were received in Nizamabad till Monday.