1,647 candidates in battlefield to contest polls from 140 constituencies

Thiruvananthapuram: With the time allotted for filing of nominations ending on Friday, 1,647 candidates have filed their papers to contest polls from 140 constituencies.
In the capital, 74 candidates filed their nominations on Friday. Prominent among them include chief minister Oommen Chandy , health minister V S Sivakumar, home minister Ramesh Chennithala, former minister K B Ganesh Kumar, film actor Raghu Damodaran (Bheeman Raghu), BJP leader O Rajagopal and Congress candidate R Selvaraj.
Chandy declared in his affidavit filed before the assistant returning officer, Puthuppally , that he has no cash in hand.His wife Mariamma Oommen had Rs 10,516 and son Chandy Oommen had Rs 942 as cash in hand, the declaration said.
The CM has a deposit of Rs 54,443 in his treasury savings bank account and Rs 123 at the Canara Bank branch in Vazhuthacaud.
He has Rs 1,054 at South Indian Bank in Puthuppally and Rs 11,000 at HDFC Bank in Thiruvanathapuram. Other deposits include Rs 540 in Indian Overseas Bank, Puthuppally and Rs 30,000 in a joint account in Federal Bank, Puthuppally, opened jointly with Philson Mathew on April 24 exclusively for election expenditure.
Chandy has 1,440 shares of IDBI worth Rs 14,400, SBI shares worth Rs 95,400 and Bharat Broadcasting Network shares worth Rs 10,000. Mariamma has debentures worth Rs 11,00,000 in Muthoot Finance Limited, where son Chandy Oommen too has debentures worth 8,00,000. Oommen Chandy has no vehicle registered in his name while wife Mariamma owns a 2010-model Swift Dezire car.
The gross total value of movable assets is Rs 3,21,840 for Oommen Chandy . Mariamma has movable assets worth Rs 32,85,000. Movable assets owned by their son Chandy Oommen is Rs 13,09,871. Oommen Chandy has no immovable assets, while his wife has 13.25 cents with a residential building worth Rs 75 lakh.
The scrutiny of the nominations will be held on Saturday and the last date for withdrawal of the nominations is May 2.
The election commission of India will hold a meeting on May 2 in the capital to review the poll preparedness. The commission will meet district collectors, district police chiefs and other poll officials. The commission officials, who will arrive at the capital on Sunday , will meet chief electoral officer E K Majhi, police nodal officer and political party representatives.
The commission will also meet the chief secretary, additional chief secretary (home and vigilance), principal secretary (taxes) and income tax officials.