BJP's bigwigs L K Advani and Rajnath Singh and Congress veterans Madhusudan Mistry and Rita Bahuguna Joshi were among the prominent candidates who entered the fray today as filing of nominations for 6th and 7th phases of marathon Lok Sabha polls picked up speed.
DMK leader and former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran and Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son Kartik, who is making his electoral debut, also entered the race.
Beating the deadline, a large number of hopefuls filed their papers as the nomination process for the sixth phase of over month-long general elections drew to close this evening.
Accompanied by Narendra Modi, Advani filed his nomination from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat, putting up a show of unity after months of apparent frost in ties between the two.
Modi himself handed over the documents to the Returning Officer.
86-year-old Advani, who was virtually forced to accept Gandhinagar seat over Bhopal which was said to be his first choice, is seeking his 7th term in Lok Sabha.
BJP president Rajnath Singh filed his papers for the prestigious Lucknow Lok Sabha seat, which was represented by party partriach Atal Bihari Vajpayee several times.
Congress leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who also entered the fray today, will cross swords with Rajnath for the Lucknow seat.
Pitted against BJP's Prime Ministerial nominee Narendra Modi, Mistry (Congress) filed his nomination for Vadodara Lok Sabha constituency.
Sitting MP Maran entered the race from Central Chennai constituency and Karti P Chidambaram from Sivaganga.
