345 is the final number

SHILLONG, FEB 9: Of the three hundred fifty candidates who had initially filed the nomination papers for the February 23 Meghalaya assembly, three hundred and forty-five candidates are not left in the election fray.

Four of the nomination papers were rejected and six candidates had withdrawn their nomination papers.

Meghalaya is going to polls on February 23 for the sixty Assembly seats.In the 2008 elections, there were a total of 338 candidates.

For this year assembly election the total number of Meghalaya electorate is 14, 90,015, of which 7, 53,307 are women.

This will be the ninth Assembly elections since Meghalaya became a full-fledged statehood in 1972.

From the 345 candidates, 122 are Independents. Only the Congress has fielded candidates for all the sixty assembly seats- By Our Reporter.