Bengaluru, Dec 21 : Amid reports that a section of candidates was trying to get elected unopposed, the Karnataka State Election Commission notified that 1,17,383 candidates remained in the fray for the first phase of gram panchayat elections to be held on Tuesday. The KSEC had last week countermanded elections to 13 seats in Byluru village under Kurgodu gram panchayat in Ballari district after it found that candidates had bid for seats. Ballari Deputy Commissioner SS Nakul, who is also the Returning Officer, recommended in his report that these candidates should be barred from contesting elections as they were allegedly guilty of thwarting a democratic process. The Commission had received 1,64,550 nominations from 48,048 constituencies. Out of them, 1,57,735 were found in order. Out of the total nominations submitted, 40,352 were withdrawn while 4,377 candidates were elected unopposed even before a single ballot was cast. The election will now be held for 43,238 constituencies in the first phase. The state Election Commission had announced a two-phase poll on December 22 and 27, and the declaration of results on December 30. As many as 2.96 crore electors will vote to elect 92,121 gram panchayat members in Karnataka. As many as 45,128 polling booths will be set up, and about 2.7 lakh polling officials deployed to oversee the elections. The Commission has made it clear that no political party or leader will be allowed to campaign for candidates as these are not party-based elections. No candidate can display pictures or symbols of any political party or leader in their publicity material in violation of the election code of conduct. /IANS