Jaipur, Sept. 5 -- A day after the deadline to withdraw nominations in the upcoming civic elections across 10,245 wards in 309 urban local bodies in the state ended, a total of 38,891 candidates are in the fray. The State Election Commission on Friday allotted election symbols to independent candidates. In certain wards, the entry of rebels denied tickets by established party camps has added an element of uncertainty as the pace of campaigning picks up. The scale of the contest is significantly larger than in the previous civic elections when over 27,000 candidates had contested elections in 196 urban local bodies. In cases where multiple independents sought the same symbol in their nomination papers, the symbol was allotted through a lottery. In Barmer district, which has 75 wards, around 50% of independent candidates sought the "apple" symbol, an analysis of nomination papers showed. Sheo MLA Ravindra Singh Bhati has earlier contested elections twice under the same symbol. 77 candidates have been elected unopposed in urban local bodies across the state. Certain independent candidates have adopted interesting campaign strategies. The son of independent Seema Goswami in Ajmer's Ward 52, Deepak (AGE), has vowed to remain barefoot till his mother wins the election. In Jodhpur, an independent contesting in Ward 91, identified only as Sita, collected her election symbol from the assistant returning officer while prostrating herself on the ground in a gesture of dandavat. A ward in Jhunjhunu recorded three independents named Rakesh (with different surnames) in the fray. Jaipur sees close contests In Jaipur Municipal Corporation, 723 candidates are in the fray across 150 wards. Voting is scheduled on September 11. A total of 17 wards have only two candidates, setting the stage for direct contests, and another 35 are set to record triangular contests with three candidates in the fray each. Across both major party camps (Congress and BJP), 25 rebels (16 denied BJP tickets and nine denied Congress tickets) remain in the fray. Observers said that closely contested wards could record major upsets in vote-share due to the presence of rebels....