278 candidates to fight it out in 13 Lok Sabha seats of Punjab

As many as 278 candidates are left in the fray for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab where polling will be held on May 19, the last of the seven-phase general elections.

The scrutiny of the nomination papers were held on April 30. Following that, 12 nominees withdrew their candidature on May 2, the last date for withdrawal of nominations, Punjab's chief electoral officer S Karuna Raju said in a release here.

While 30 candidates will fight it out in Amritsar Lok Sabha Seat, Hoshiarpur seat has the least eight contestants. Fifteen candidates are left in the fray in Gurdaspur seat.

Prominent among the 278 candidates in the race include, BJP nominee and Bollywood actor Sunny Deol from Gurdaspur, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal from Ferozepur, his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal from Bathinda, former union minister Preneet Kaur from Patiala, AAP's Bhagwant Mann from Sangrur and Congress' Manish Tewari from Anandpur Sahib seat.

The chief electoral officer said of the total 2,07,81,211 voters in Punjab, 1,09,50735 are male and 98,29,916 are female, while 560 belong to the third gender.

-PTI