Malappuram(Kerala) | The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday rejected P V Anvar's nomination as a Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate for the Nilambur assembly constituency by-poll, but accepted the poll papers he filed as an independent candidate.

Besides Anvar's nomination as an independent candidate, it accepted those of 13 others, including UDF's Araydan Shoukath, LDF's M Swaraj and BJP-led NDA's Mohan George, according to the EC website.

The poll panel rejected seven nominations including that of Anvar as a TMC candidate.

A total of 25 nominations had been filed by 20 candidates for the by-poll.

Earlier in the day, Anvar said that his nomination as a TMC candidate was kept pending as his party is not registered in Kerala.

He also said that a letter from his party's national committee to allot its symbol to him has been sent to the Election Commission by the State Election Commission for clarification.

Anvar further said that even though TMC is not registered in Tripura and Assam, its candidates there were allotted the party symbol based on a letter sent by it.

The last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is 3 pm on June 5 and election symbols will be allotted after that.

Voting will be held on June 19 and the results will be declared on June 23.