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Four high-profile candidates, including two former chief ministers, today filed their nomination papers for three out of a total of five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand.
Prominent among those who filed their nomination papers for the May 7 polling were former chief ministers B C Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank, ex-Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna's son Saket and daughter-in-law of erstwhile Tehri royal family Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah.
Saket Bahuguna and Shah filed their nomination papers from Congress and BJP respectively for the high-profile Tehri Lok Sabha seat currently held by the saffron party while former BJP Chief Ministers Khanduri and Nishank filed their nominations from Pauri and Haridwar seats respectively.
Shah had defeated Saket whom she faces once again in the bypoll to Tehri seat in October 2012 by more than 22,000 votes.
Khanduri was accompanied by sitting Pauri MP and former Congress heavyweight Satpal Maharaj who recently defected to BJP and state BJP chief Tirath Singh Rawat at the time of filing his nomination papers.
Later, Khanduri told reporters that he was confident of his victory with people looking desperately for change and the strength of Satpal Maharaj with him.
