Kathmandu, Jan. 23 -- The final tally of candidates for the March 5 elections stands at 3,406 after the withdrawal and cancellation of 81 candidacies on Thursday and Friday.

As many as 3,487 candidates for House of Representatives seats from 68 political parties and independents had registered their candidacy on Tuesday under the first-past-the-post category. However, 81 candidates either withdrew from the race or had their nominations scrapped by the Election Commission after being found ineligible to contest the elections.

Kul Bahadur GC, assistant spokesperson for the commission, said that while the nominations of nine candidates were scrapped by election officers in the respective constituencies, others withdrew voluntarily.

Of the...