The qualified candidates for Iran's upcoming parliamentary elections on Thursday launched their week- long campaign by introducing their plans to the public.

The Guardian Council, as the country's high legislative body, has approved the eligibility of 3,444 candidates for the parliamentary elections and disqualified some 1,200, local media reported.

One of the criteria for the approval of candidacy necessitated the individuals to present master's degree upon registration.

Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said Tuesday that 48,288,799 people were eligible to cast their ballots in the upcoming vote, according to local satellite Press TV.

The three major conservative competing parties in Iran's upcoming elections are the United Principlists Front, the Islamic Coalition Party, and the Islamic Resistance Front.

Local media said that some reformist individuals have also been qualified for the candidacy.

However, former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said in December 2011 that reformists would not announce any candidates for the elections because "the conditions for the reformists to participate were not met."

Khatami said earlier that reformists would participate in the polls only if all the reformist political prisoners were freed, the political atmosphere was open and the elections could be held with utmost transparency.

But the Guardian Council said earlier that individuals who were linked to the protests after the 2009 presidential elections would not be eligible to campaign for the polls.

Protests gripped Tehran and other Iranian cities after the 2009 presidential elections, which were suspected to be rigged in favor of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In January, Iran's ex-president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani said that no candidate or political group had his support in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

"As I have said before, in the next elections, I support no party, no candidate, nobody," said Rafsanjani, who is also the chairman of Iran's Expediency Council.

Earlier this month, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei called on the Iranians to participate actively in the voting.

The enemies were trying to discourage people from taking part in the elections, he said, adding that people should be vigilant about the enemies' plots and security forces should be vigilant against any move by the enemies that may cause insecurity during the election days.

In the last parliamentary vote held in March 2008, the authorities approved about 4,500 candidates and barred over 1,700 others due to their lack of loyalty to Islamic values and the Islamic revolution.

Iran's conservatives, who generally supported the country's Islamic establishments and President Ahmadinejad, won an absolute majority in the 2008 elections, while reformists, who wanted better relations with the West, won far fewer seats.

Iran's upcoming parliamentary polls are slated for March 2, when the candidates will contest for the 290-seat legislature.