Lok Sabha Polls: Over Half Of Candidates' Nominations Rejected In Ghaziabad

Nominations of 60 percent candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Ghaziabad and almost 56 percent in Gautam Buddh Nagar were rejected after their scrutiny on Friday, according to local officials.

In Ghaziabad, 35 candidates had filed their nominations and of those applications of 14 candidates were approved, the district's election office said in a statement.

In adjoining Gautam Buddh Nagar, the district election office said it had received nominations from 34 candidates and 15 of them were found valid.

The two constituencies had a combined 69 nominations of which 40 have been rejected. The rejection of nominations in Ghaziabad was 60 percent while in Gautam Buddh Nagar it stood at 55.89 percent, according to the data.

Among those whose nominations are still in the fray in Ghaziabad are BJP's Atul Garg, Congress' Dolly Sharma, BSP's Nand Kishor Pundir, Rashtra Nirman Party's Anand Kumar, Rashtriya Jan Karmath Party's Anshul Gupta, Subhashwadi Bhartiya Samajwadi Party's Dhirendra Singh Bhadauria, Samaj Vikas Kranti Party's Jagdish Yadav, and Right to Recall Party's Pooja.

Besides them, six Independent nominees Abhishek Pundir, Avdesh Kumar, Aurangjev, Kavita, Natthu Singh Chaudhary and Ravi Kumar Panchal are in the fight, according to the official list.

In Gautam Buddh Nagar, those still in the fray are BJP's Mahesh Sharma, Samajwadi Party's Mahendra Singh Nagar, BSP's Rajendra Singh Solanki, Rajeev Mishra (Jai Hind National Party), Naresh Nautiyal (Bhartiya Rashtriya Jansatta), Manish Kumar Dwivedi (Akhil Bhartiya Parivar Party), Ran Singh Dudee (Super Power India Party), Narvadeshwar (Subhashwadi Bhartiya Samajwadi Party), Kishor Singh (National Party), Bhim Prakash Jigyasu (Viron ke Vir Indian Party), and Km Shalu (Loktantrik Janshakti Party).

Parag Kaushik, Mahkar Singh, Mohd Mumtaj Aalam and Shivam Ashutosh are fighting it out as Independent candidates in Gautam Buddh Nagar.

The last date for withdrawal of nominations in both Ghaziabad as well as Gautam Buddh Nagar is April 8 and the constituencies will go to polls on April 26. The two constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh have a combined elector strength of around 55 lakh.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)