Eighty-seven candidates, including Rahul Gandhi, K. Sudhakaran and Shashi Tharoor of the Congress, K. Radhakrishnan and K.K. Shailaja of the CPI(M), and Annie Raja of the CPI filed their nominations on Wednesday for the April 26 Lok Sabha polls in the State.
In all, 152 nominations were filed on Wednesday since many candidates have submitted multiple sets of nomination forms.
Rahul Gandhi and Annie Raja filed their papers for contesting from Wayanad, KPCC president K. Sudhakaran from Kannur, and Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram. SC/ST Welfare and Devaswoms Minister K. Radhakrishnan, the LDF candidate in Alathur, and former Health Minister K.K. Shailaja, the LDF candidate in Vadakara, also filed their nominations on Wednesday.
Other candidates who filed their nominations on the day included IUML leader E.T. Mohammed Basheer, who is the UDF candidate in Malappuram, V.S. Sunil Kumar, the LDF candidate in Thrissur; Shobha Surendran of the BJP (Alappuzha), and V. Joy, the LDF candidate in Attingal.
After the filing of nominations began on March 28 in the State, 143 candidates have filed their papers so far. Counting the multiple sets, 234 nominations have been filed. With 11 candidates each, Kollam and Thrissur top the list in the number of candidates. Thursday, April 4, is the last date for filing nominations. The scrutiny of the papers will be held on April 5, Friday.
