Former minister and actor P. Babu Mohan and former MP Manda Jagannath are among 267 aspirants whose nominations have been rejected for Lok Sabha elections in Telangana.
The election authorities have accepted nominations of 626 candidates in all 17 Lok Sabha constituencies.
A total of 1,488 nominations were filed by 893 aspirants with many filing multiple nomination sets. According to the Election Commission, 1,060 nominations were found valid.
Babu Mohan had filed nomination papers as an independent candidate from Warangal constituency. Though he had submitted names of 10 voters along with his nomination, they had not marked their signatures.
Interestingly, Babu Mohan joined Praja Shanti Party of evangelist K. A. Paul on March 24. Paul announced the appointment of Babu Mohan as the president of Telangana unit of the party and also declared him as the party candidate from Warangal constituency.
After filing his nomination, Babu Mohan revealed that he resigned from Praja Shanti Party the same day.
In February, he resigned from BJP, saying he was being sidelined.
The veteran actor, known for comedy roles in Telugu films, entered politics by joining Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the 1990s. He was first elected from Andole in 1998 by-elections and retained the seat in 1999.
He served as Minister for Labour in Chandrababu Naidu’s Cabinet in the then unified Andhra Pradesh.
In 2014, Babu Mohan joined TRS (now BRS) and was elected to the Telangana Assembly from Andole. He quit BRS in 2018 after he was denied ticket and joined BJP.
The Election Commission rejected the nomination of Manda Jagannath in Nagarkurnool constituency. He had filed his nomination as candidate of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) but failed to submit ‘B’ form.
He did not get the chance to contest even as independent as the requirement of 10 candidates signing the nomination papers was not met.
Jagannath was elected MP from Nagarkurnool four times. He was elected thrice on TDP ticket and once on Congress ticket.
Nominations of candidates belonging to major parties were accepted in all constituencies.
Certain objections were raised by Congress and BRS on the nomination of BJP candidate G. Nagesh in Adilabad constituency but the returning officer rejected the objections.
Maximum number of nominations (115 filed by 77 candidates) was rejected in Malkajgiri, which is the biggest parliamentary constituency in the country.
Nominations of 25 candidates were rejected in Nalgonda and 20 in Karimnagar.
April 29 is the last date for withdrawal of candidatures while voting will take place on May 13.