Kathmandu (PTI): Altogether 2,219 candidates have filed nominations from 240 constituencies for the crucial April 10 Constituent Assembly polls in Nepal that are being boycotted by the agitating Terai groups.

In total, 74 registered political parties are in the fray and major parties Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist are contesting all 240 seats under the first-past-the post electoral system, according to the Election Commission.

Out of total 601 Assembly seats, 240 candidates will be elected through direct voting system and 335 will be elected through proportionate voting system. The remaining 26 candidates will be nominated by the Prime Minister.

The highest number of candidates are contesting in Kathmandu district which has 10 constituencies.

As many as 221 candidates, including Maoist chief Prachanda, have filed nominations from the valley.

Manang district, which has a single constituency, has only the lowest-- three -- candidates in fray.

Prachanda has filed his candidacy from Kathmandu Constituency number 10 and Rolpa Constituency number 2.

"Now the country is heading toward building a new Nepal as per the wishes of the great martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of people's sovereignty," Prachanda, who led a decade long armed struggle against the monrachy, told reporters after filing the nominations.

The newly elected Constituent Assembly will frame the Constitution and decide the fate of monarchy in line with a 2006 peace agreement signed by the government and Maoists.

But the elections which have been twice deferred are being held in the shadow of a stir by Indian-origin Madhesi community in Terai which alleges marginalisation and is demanding an autonomous region.

Nearly 17.5 million people are eligible to caste their votes. Altogether 21,883 polling booths have been provided and 26,300 security personnel will be mobilised during the polls, the Election Commission said.

The final voters list will be published next month and the election symbol will be provided on March 2.

Asked about the possibility of mobilising army in strife torn Terai as the agitating groups have threatened to sabotage the polls, Prachanda said, "I think seven-party unity and the existing police administration are enough to maintain peace and hold the election in a free and fair manner.

"If the situation demands army mobilisation, the role of both the Nepal Army and the People's Liberation Army (the Maoist guerrilla force now under UN supervision) should be made clear."

Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of CPN-UML, is also contesting two more seats.

Nepal said the seven-party alliance and the government were trying to resolve the Madhes problem through negotiation and go for elections together on the slated date.

Other prominent NC leaders in the fray are Prakash Man Singh, Sushil Koirala, Sher Bahadur Deuba, Ram Chandra Poudel and Gopal Man Shrestha and Rastriya Prajatantra Party's (RPP) Chairman Pashupati Shumsher Rana.

Maoist leaders Baburam Bhattarai, Ram Bahadur Thapa "Badal", Maoist spokesman and Information Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Minister Hishila Yami, CP Gajurel and Barsha Man Pun have also filed their candidacies.