371 candidates left in fray for 26 seats in Gujarat
As many as 371 candidates were left in the fray for the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat on Monday, as it was the last day of withdrawal of nominations. Gujarat would go the hustings in the third phase on April 26.
A total of 572 nominations have been receoived by the Election Commission from across Gujarat for the 26 Lok Sabha seats. The CEO office, had however rejected 120 of these with 452 candidates valid for contesting after scrutinizing the forms.
Eighty-one candidates withdrew their forms on Monday leaving 371 candidates, including 26 each of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, in the race, the Chief Electoral Officer's office said.
The maximum number of candidates, 31, will be fighting it out for the Surendranagar Lok Sabha constituency, and the minimum six contestants are in the fray for the Panchmahals seat.
The maximum 17 withdrawals were reported from the Gandhinagar parliamentary seat where BJP candidate Amit Shah is facing Congress' sitting MLA CJ Chavda.
Gujarat will go to polls for the Lok Sabha elections on April 23 in a single phase for all the 26 seats. The results will be out on May 23.
