1,203 contenders for 140 seats in Kerala assembly

New Delhi: A total of 1,203 contestants are in fray for 140 Kerala assembly seats, for which elections will be held on May 16, the Election Commission (EC) said on Thursday. Of these, 109 are women.

As per the EC figures, the state has 2,61,06,422 registered voters.

The maximum 17 candidates are in Poonjar segment, while Payyannur, Nilambur, Kongad and Tarur have four candidates each. 

No political party is contesting all the seats, though the Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded the maximum 98 candidates, followed by Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) with 87 and 85 candidates respectively.

Other parties in the fray are Bahujan Samaj Party (74 candidates), Communist Party of India (25), Indian Union Muslim League (23), Kerala Congress-Mani (15), Nationalist Congress Party (4) and Janata Dal-Secular and Revolutionary Socialist Party (5 each).

Besides, there are 782 Independents and others.

The largest assembly constituency electorate-wise is Aranmula with 2,26,324 voters and Kozhikode South with 1,48,848 voters the smallest. Area-wise, Konni is the largest constituency.