By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram: With the deadline for the filing of nominations to the Oct 23-25 local bodies polls in the state ending Monday, more than one lakh candidates are in the fray for 21,612 seats in 1,208 local bodies.
“More than 77,000 nominations were filed till Monday morning. By tonight (Monday night) the exact figure would emerge. The scrutiny will begin tomorrow and the last day for withdrawals is Thursday,” a state election commission official told IANS.
Earlier, it was a mad rush of candidates to file nominations. As the deadline expired at 3 p.m., the authorities had to issue tokens to all those who were in line to allow them to file their nominations.
Sixty-five-year-old A.M. Sebastian, a Congress candidate, died after suffering a cardiac arrest while standing in the queue to file his nomination paper.
Meanwhile, at ward no. 19 at Cherpu in Thrissur district, two sisters — Vimala and Shylaja — have filed nomination papers from rival fronts leaving their parents in a quandary.
As the struggle for power begins, the state Forward Bloc has teamed up with the Bharatiya Janata Party in some areas in the capital district.
Of the total 21,612 seats, 11,135 are reserved for women.