As many as 202 candidates, including 32 Independents, are in the fray for the January 22 polls to the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC), officials of the subdivisional administration said here on Thursday, the last day for withdrawing nominations.

The Independents include at least three dissidents of Trinamul who did not obey the party’s diktat to withdraw nominations on Thursday.

Of the initial four dissidents, angry at not being given party tickets, only Nikhil Sahani withdrew his papers.

Sahani, a district coordinator of the party, had filed his nomination as an Independent from ward 18. Accompanied by veteran party leader Gautam Deb, Sahani reached the SDO’s office on Thursday and withdrew his candidature.

“I will abide by the party's guidelines... I will start campaigning for the Trinamul candidate of my ward from Friday,” said Sahani.

The Trinamul leadership, however, failed to persuade one of the state general secretaries of the party Bikash Ranjan Sarkar and local leaders Bijendra Kapoor and Mallika Debnath to step back. They will contest as Independents from wards 24, 1 and 46.

This apart, the nomination of Hishey Bhutia, the Trinamul candidate of ward 42, was cancelled during scrutiny as the her Scheduled Caste certificate was issued in Sikkim.

“We had fielded Shova Chhetri as a dummy candidate in ward 42. She will now be our official nominee,” said a party leader.

For the same reason, the nomination of Malati Roy, the BJP candidate of ward 46, was cancelled. She got her caste certificate from Assam.

After the withdrawals and cancellations, Trinamul managed to field candidates in all 47 seats and the BJP from 46. There are 43 Left (CPM- 36, Forward Bloc-3, RSP-2 and CPI-2) and 34 Congress candidates.

“Independents will play a key roles in some wards, especially where the contest is close,” said an observer.