29 MP, 145 MLA candidates left in fray for bypolls

Hyderabad, May 15 (UNI) As many as 29 MP candidates and 145 MLA candidates are left in the fray for the May 29 byelections to four Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats as the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended this evening.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer I V Subba Rao told reporters here that three MP candidates and 16 MLA candidates withdrew from the contest. Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) would be used in all the constituencies.

A maximum of 25 candidates were in the fray in Jedcharla Assembly constituency, necessitating the use two balloting units and one controlling unit. Only four candidates were contesting in the Therlam Assembly constituency.

TRS President K Chandrasekar Rao, who has resigned the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat, along with three other party MPs and 16 MLAs, would face former Congress minister T Jeevan Reddy and TDP nominee L Ramana, while TRS nominee D Ravinder Naik was pitted against TDP Legislature Party Secretary E Dayakar Rao in Warangal Lok Sabha constituency.

Other prominent candidates, who would be contesting the elections, included State government's representative in New Delhi Mallu Ravi of the Congress and former TDP minister M Chandrasekhar (both in Jedcherla Assembly constituency), former TRS ministers N Narasimha Reddy (Musheerabad), A Chandrasekhar (Vikarabad) and T Harish Rao (Siddipet) and former TDP ministers K Srihari (Ghanpur-SC), M Venkateswara Rao (Dichpalli) and T Srinivas Yadav (Secunderabad).

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