Former ministers B T Lalitha Naik and Ramesh Jigajinigi were among 26 candidates who entered the electoral battle on fourth day of the filing of nominations for the April 17 Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka.
In all, 111 candidates have filed nominations since the process kickstarted on April 19 for the single-phase polls for the 28 seats in the state, Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha told reporters here.
Chamarajanagar for the first time witnessed filing of nominations with Congress nominee Dhruv Narayan submitting papers, Jha said. Until yesterday, Chamarajnagar was the only constituency where nominations were not filed, he added.
Aam Aadmi Party's Lalitha Naik, who is in the fray against political heavyweight and Railway Minister M Mallikarjun Kharge, filed nomination from the Gulbarga Lok Sabha (SC) constituency.
Naik is a new face to the voters of Gulbarga and her candidature came as a surprise even to AAP activists in the constituency.
Jigjinagi filed his nominations for the Bijapur Lok Sabha constituency, where he locks horns with Congress's Prakash Rathod.
Apart from Naik, two other candidates of the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also filed nominations from separate constituencies. K G Sridhar and M R Vasudeva filed their nominations from Shimoga and Dakshin kannada constituencies, respectively.
In all, Jha said, the officials have seized Rs 1.44 crore in cash since March 19.
