Election Commission sources said after the scrutiny, 536 candidates were left in the fray for the 59 constituencies in the six southern districts of the state.

Thiruvananthapuram district had the largest number of 150 nominations of which 18 were rejected. The second largest number of 100 nominations were filed from Allapuzha district, of which 11 were rejected, they said.

The EC said 13 nominations out of 93 filed in Kottayam were rejected on scrutiny. In Kollam, there were disputes on seven nominations and out of the remaining 85 nominations, 15 were rejected. Ten out of a total of 44 nominations from Idukki district were rejected, the sources said and added in Pathanamthitta, 55 candidates were in the fray out of the 64 nominations filed.

The filing of nominations for the first phase closed yesterday.

The prominent candidates whose electoral fortunes would be decided in the first phase of the polls are Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, his Cabinet colleagues K M Mani, K R Gouri, M V Raghavan, Babu Divakaran, C F Thomas, K C Venugopal, Adoor Prakash, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and N Sakthan and Deputy Speaker N Sundaran Nadar.

The counting of votes would take place on May 11.

UNI PN1926