242 candidates remain in fray

HYDERABAD: As many as 242 candidates are in the fray for the bypolls to be held on June 12 for 18 Assembly seats and 13 candidates for the Nellore Lok Sabha seat. Of the 267 Assembly candidates, 25 withdrew their nominations on Monday, the last day for doing so. However, no candidate has withdrawn from the Nellore Lok Sabha contest and all the 13 candidates remain in the fray.According to chief electoral officer Bhanwar Lal, Ongole constituency has the maximum number of 23 candidates, followed by Tirupati and Rajampet with 19  candidates each. The Election Commission of India has allotted `ceiling fan’ as the election symbol to the YSR Congress Party which is not a registered party. The party had fought on the same symbol in previous polls. Voters in Ongole, Tirupati and Rajampet constituencies will be given two electronic voting machines (EVMs) since more than 16 candidates are in the fray there. A balloting unit can contain the names of a maximum number of 16 candidates.