StatesAndhra Pradesh
YSRCP says its candidates were attacked as Andhra's rural poll nominations opened
The opposition party listed assaults, a torched scooter and police detentions in Chittoor, Tirupati and Palnadu on the first day of filing for the 3 November mandal and district council polls.
Key points
- Nominations for Andhra Pradesh's MPTC and ZPTC polls opened on Wednesday, with voting on 3 November.
- The YSRCP said TDP cadres attacked former Deputy Chief Minister K Narayana Swamy in Chittoor.
- Police arrested YSRCP leader Kommineni Venkateswarlu in Palnadu as he arrived to back candidates.
Nominations for Andhra Pradesh’s mandal and district council elections opened on Wednesday, and within hours the opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) said its leaders and candidates had been attacked, obstructed and detained in at least three districts.
The elections to Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs) are due on 3 November. They follow the urban local body contest, in which the YSRCP went to the Supreme Court this week alleging that its candidates had been kept from filing by force.
Chittoor and Tirupati
The most prominent name on the party’s list was K Narayana Swamy, a former Deputy Chief Minister. The YSRCP said cadres of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) attacked him near the Zilla Parishad chairman’s office in Chittoor as he arrived to help a candidate file a ZPTC nomination from Penumuru.
In Chandragiri, in Tirupati district, the party said former MPTC member Madan Reddy and two supporters, Ramu and Lokesh, suffered serious head injuries and were taken to a government hospital. It alleged that the attack happened in the presence of Pulivarthi Vineel, son of the TDP MLA Pulivarthi Nani, and accused him of bringing in outsiders from Tamil Nadu.
Near the mandal development office in Srikalahasti, a YSRCP supporter’s two-wheeler was damaged and set on fire, the party said, and TDP leaders threatened candidates who tried to file. In Railway Koduru it accused the Jana Sena MLA Arava Sridhar and his party’s leaders of obstructing nominations and attacking its supporters. At another spot in the district, local YSRCP leaders confronted police and demanded that every candidate be allowed to file.
Detentions in Palnadu
In Palnadu district, the party said police placed former MLA Brahmanaidu under house arrest in Narasaraopet, stopping him from accompanying candidates. In Piduguralla mandal, police arrested Kommineni Venkateswarlu, a member of the YSRCP state executive council and its observer for Macherla constituency, as he arrived to support MPTC candidates.
At the Macherla mandal office, the YSRCP alleged, TDP cadres attacked its candidates and snatched their nomination papers. The party described the day as part of “the continuing obstruction faced by YSRCP candidates during the MPTC and ZPTC nomination process”.
Minor clashes were reported at several filing centres during the day. The TDP, the Jana Sena and the police had not publicly responded to the specific allegations by Wednesday evening.
The court backdrop
The rural filing opened on the same day that a Supreme Court vacation bench told the State Election Commission to hold back the final candidate list for the urban local body polls and to decide case by case whether candidates kept away by violence should get more time to file. The YSRCP had told the court that nearly two-thirds of its candidates in 19 urban bodies were stopped from filing. Wednesday’s list of complaints suggests the same fight is now moving to the villages.