The Election Commission announced on Tuesday that a total of 1206 candidates from 12 states/Union territories, along with four candidates from the Outer Manipur parliamentary constituency, are set to contest in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for April 26.
Out of the 2633 nominations filed for the 88 parliamentary constituencies going to polls in phase 2, 1428 nominations were found to be valid.
In terms of state wise nominations, Kerala recorded the highest number with 500 nominations filed across 20 parliamentary constituencies, followed by Karnataka with 491 nominations across 14 constituencies.
However, at the constituency level, the least number of nominations (14) were filed from a Tripura parliamentary constituency, while the Nanded parliamentary constituency in Maharashtra received the maximum number of nominations (92).
Meanwhile, the first phase of general elections scheduled for April 19 will witness 1625 candidates, comprising 1491 male candidates and 134 female candidates, contesting across 21 states/UTs, the EC said.