Karwar: In the Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha constituency, 17 nomination papers have been rejected after scrutiny. Returning Officer Gangubai Maankar reported that 36 nominations filed by 19 candidates were examined in the presence of Election Observer Rajeev Ratan.

Out of these, nominations from six candidates did not meet the requirements and were therefore rejected. The candidates affected include Nagaraj Shridhar Shet from the Rashtriya Janasambhavana Party; independent candidates Rupa Naik, Umesh Devjan, Madgaonkar Pramod, Sujay Sudhir Gokaran, and Prakash Pinto.

Meanwhile, the nominations of 13 candidates were declared valid. These include Dr. Anjali Nimbalkar from the Indian National Congress, Kagiri Vishweshwar Hegde from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Ganapati Hegde from the Socialist Unity Center of India (Communist), Vinayak Mangesh Naik from the Karnataka Rashtriya Samithi, Sunil Pawaar from the Uttama Prajaakeeya Party, and several independent candidates: Krishnaji Patil, Chidanand Hanumantappa Harijan, Niranjan Ude Sinha Sardesai, Nagaraj Ananth Shirali, Arvind Gowda, Avinash Narayan Patil, Krishna Hanumantappa Balegar, and Rajshekhar Shankar Hindalgi.

Assistant Returning Officer and Additional Deputy Commissioner Prakash Rajput, along with the candidates, were present during the nomination scrutiny. The last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is April 22, with the election scheduled for May 7 in the Uttara Kannada district.