Monday will see several stalwarts filing their nominations, as the day has been declared auspicious by astrologers. District magistrate Dileep Jawalkar says the administration expects at least 10 major nominations to be filed and has made special security arrangements near the collectorate.
Congress MLA Dinesh Agarwal will be among notable candidates filing papers on Monday. Another candidate Manoj Sharma of the BSP has announced his intention of coming in a chopper to submit his form. This would be a first in the district. Chief election officer Radha Raturi has said the candidates would not be allowed to take more than four supporters near the nomination centres and processions would not be allowed on the premises.
However, giving the Monday frenzy a miss would be former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'. He had earlier expressed the intention of filing on Monday as per his counsel RS Raghav, but will now do it on Tuesday.
Since the start of the nomination process on January 5, around 195 candidates have taken up the forms. The process will end on January 12, and scrutiny will take place the day after. January 16 is the last day for withdrawing nominations. The state goes to polls on January 30.