A total of 1,328 nominations were filed in Coimbatore district for urban local body elections for various posts on Thursday and the total number of nominations filed went up to 1,602.
Officials said that 704 nominations were received for Corporation councillor posts, 349 for Municipal councillor posts and 275 for Town Panchayat ward member posts. Thursday saw a steep increase in the number of nominations filed as the total number of nominations filed till Wednesday was only 274, while it rose to 1,602 on Thursday.
S. Karthikeyan, a 31-year-old member of Makkal Needhi Maiam, drew attention by arriving in a bullock cart at the Corporation Central Zone office on Huzur Road to file his nomination papers for Ward 81 of the Coimbatore Corporation. Similarly, an independent candidate Maheshwaran rode a horse to the Corporation office in Tatabad for filing his nomination to contest in Ward No. 32 as a protest against the hike in fuel prices.
Tiruppur Corporation also saw a marked rise in the number of nominations on Thursday with 222 nominations. Till Wednesday, only 79 nominations were filed for the post of councillors of all 60 wards in the Corporation and the total number of nominations increased to 301 on Thursday.