Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh): TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh and current YSRCP MP P V Midhun Reddy were among candidates who filed their nominations on Thursday for the Assembly elections and Lok Sabha polls to be held simultaneously in Andhra Pradesh.
For the Assembly elections, a delegation of TDP, BJP and Janasena leaders from the NDA, submitted two sets of nomination papers on behalf of TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh in Mangalagiri, said a statement from the TDP.
As many as 39 nominations were filed for the Lok Sabha polls after the notification was issued.
Notable candidates who filed nominations include M Srinivasulu Reddy (Ongole) and L Sri Krishna Devarayalu (Narasaraopeta) from TDP and P V Midhun Reddy (Rajampet) from the ruling YSRCP, among others.
Srinivasulu Reddy is father of Delhi liquor scam case accused Magunta Raghav.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena said the notification was issued before 11 am on Thursday as per the Election Commission’s (EC) guidelines.
The CEO said the nominations from candidates for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections will be accepted from April 18 to 25 between 11 am and 3 pm, except on public holidays.
“Scrutiny of nominations will be held on April 26, followed by the list of candidates who have qualified. Qualified candidates can withdraw their nominations till April 29 after which the final list will be announced,” said Meena, addressing a press conference at the Secretariat.
Polling for the 25 Lok Sabha seats and 175 Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh will be held on May 13 and counting of votes is on June 4.
YSRCP chief and Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy (Pulivendula), TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu (Kuppam) and Janasena founder and actor Pawan Kalyan (Pithapuram) are among the top leaders contesting the Assembly polls.
Andhra Pradesh BJP chief D Purandeswari (Rajahmundry) and APCC president and Jagan’s sister YS Sharmila (Kadapa) are in the fray in the Lok Sabha polls.
According to Meena, polling will be held for 11 hours between 7 am and 6 pm in 169 Assembly constituencies while it will be restricted to nine hours between 7 am and 4 pm at Araku (ST), Paderu (ST) and Rampachodavaram (ST).
Voting will be restricted to 10 hours from 7 am to 5 pm in the Assembly constituencies of Palakonda (ST), Kurupam (ST) and Salur (ST).
Besides three special observers, Meena said the EC has also appointed 50 more general observers, 18 police observers, 25 expenditure observers for Parliament constituencies and 50 expenditure observers for Assembly constituencies.
As many as 5.26 lakh government personnel will be engaged in election duty, he added.
As many as 12,459 polling stations have been identified as critical while webcasting has been planned for approximately 30,111 polling stations, which also include the critical polling stations.
Further, the CEO said end-to-end webcasting of movement of liquor has been implemented to prevent its illegal storage and distribution.
He said Media Certification and Monitoring Committees (MCMC) have been set up at the district and state level to strengthen vigilance against paid news and other violations, besides certifications of advertisements.
In the run-up to polls, Meena said 7,335 seizure FIRs have been registered and 8,681 licensed arms have been deposited while 17 more are pending.
One person died in election-related violence, 69 were injured and more than 5.29 lakh properties were involved in poll-related violence while authorities have bound over 51,779 persons, along with the identification of 534 troublemakers.
According to Meena, Vijayawada police have regularly updated the Election Commission on the incident in which stones were hurled at the Chief Minister and the accused has been produced in court today.
The Election Commission set up 150 inter-state checkposts, 143 intra-state checkposts and it has received 12,006 complaints on cVigil app with no cases due and the achievement of a 93 per cent strike rate in solving cases within 100 minutes.
Since the announcement of the election schedule (March 16) till April 17, the EC has seized inducements such as cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals and others worth Rs 122 crore and they amounted to Rs 179 crore from January 1 to April 18, he said.
