243 in fray for Kerala's 20 LS seats, 22 in Wayanad

Thiruvananthapuram: A total of 243 candidates are in the fray in Kerala's 20 Lok Sabha constituencies, with Wayanad, from where Congress President Rahul Gandhi is contesting too, topping the list with 22.

In all, 303 candidates had filed their nominations but 60 were rejected during scrutiny.

The final list was released on Saturday after candidature of solar scam accused Saritha Nair, who had filed her nominations from the Wayanad and Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituencies, was rejected as she failed to submit certain documents required to be produced before 10.30 a.m.

Wayanad has a record 22 candidates in the fray while Kottayam and Alathur (SC) have the least at seven each. Attingal has the second highest number of candidates (21), followed by Thiruvananthapuram (17).

Polling in all seats will be held in the third phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections on April 23.

In the outgoing Lok Sabha, the Congress-led United Democratic Front had 12 seats and the ruling Left Democratic Front the remaining eight.