Bengaluru, Apr 5: Nominations of 30 candidates were rejected Friday after scrutiny for 14 Lok Sabha constituencies which will go to polls in the second phase on April 23, election officials said.

They said the number of validly nominated candidates stands at 288.

Belgaum with 65 has the maximum number of candidates while Raichur with six has the lowest, according to officials.

A total of 318 candidates have filed 457 nominations till Thursday, the last day of filing nominations.

Prominent among those who have filed their nominations for the second phase are Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Union Ministers Ananth Kumar Hegde from Uttara Kannada, Ramesh Jigajinagi from Bijapur;

BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa's son B Y Raghavendra and former chief minister S Bangarappa's son Madhu Bangarappa of JD(S) from Shimogga.

The list also included Umesh Jadhav, a rebel Congress MLA who resigned recently and joined BJP- from Gulbarga, sitting BJP MP Prahlad Joshi from Dharwad and Congress Working President Eshwar Khandre from Bidar.

Karnataka will go to polls in two phases, 14 constituencies each, on April 18 and 23.

According to officials, 241 candidates are in the fray for the first phase of polls on April 18.

For the second phase of elections on April 23, the last day for withdrawal of nominations is April 8.

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Ghaziabad (UP) (PTI): Three minor sisters died after allegedly jumping off the balcony of a ninth-floor flat in Ghaziabad early on Wednesday, police said.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Shalimar Garden) Atul Kumar Singh said the police received information around 2.15 am about three girls jumping off the balcony of the ninth-floor apartment in a tower of Bharat City, located under the Teela Mor police station area.

On reaching the spot, the police found that the girls - Nishika (16), Prachi (14) and Pakhi (12) - daughters of Chetan Kumar, had fallen to the ground floor and suffered fatal injuries, the ACP said.

They were rushed by ambulance to a hospital in Loni, where doctors declared them dead on arrival, he added.

The police have initiated legal formalities and are investigating the circumstances leading to the incident, officials said.

(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the state’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416.)