Shimla, Apr 21 (IANS): The filing of nominations for the four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh, that go to polls on May 19, will start on Monday and continue till April 29, election officials said on Sunday.

The papers will be scrutinised on April 30. The last date of withdrawal of candidature is May 2, an official told IANS.

The nominations would be filed in the office of returning officers in Shimla, Mandi, Hamirpur and Dharamsala towns from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., excluding April 27 (Saturday) and April 28 (Sunday).

The four constituencies have a total of 50,96,869 electors, including 25,84,183 men, 25,12,627 women and 59 third gender.

There are 133,083 first-time voters but the number may increase further by April 29, when the EC clears 182,890 new applications.

In the Lok Sabha polls, Himachal Pradesh has traditionally favoured the party at the helm in the state, except for 2014, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won all the four seats.

In 2009, the BJP, which was then in power in the state, won three of the four Lok Sabha seats.