By IANS,
Kolkata : A total of 134 candidates, including nine women, remained in the fray Monday after withdrawal of nominations for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in 14 of the 42 seats in West Bengal.
Of the 146 candidates who filed their papers, seven withdrew from the race Monday. The papers of five had been rejected during scrutiny Saturday. The first of the three-phase polling in West Bengal will be held April 30.
Purulia constituency has the maximum number of candidates, 14. Ghatal and Bishnupur have the lowest number of seven contestants each.
Of the nine woman candidates, Malda North has the highest number – four.
Those fighting for the 14 seats include Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) heavyweight Jaswant Singh in Darjeeling, state Congress working president Subrata Mukherjee from Bankura, Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi’s wife Deepa from Raiganj, and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader in the outgoing Lok Sabha Basudeb Acharya from Bankura.
The second phase of the polling May 7 will cover 17 constituencies, while the remaining 11 seats go to the hustings May 13.