Amaravati: The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP on Saturday announced the list of candidates for 24 Lok Sabha constituencies and 175 Assembly segments in Andhra Pradesh, allotting 50 per cent of the seats to SC, ST, BC and minority communities.
The ruling YSRCP announced the list of candidates at the ‘samadhi‘ (grave) of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy in the presence of party supremo and CM Jagan Mohan Reddy and senior leaders at Idupulupaya in Kadapa district.
Bapatla MP Nandigam Suresh read out the names of the candidates for the Lok Sabha elections while Revenue Minister D Prasada Rao did so for the Assembly polls.
“Earlier it was only limited to rhetoric. After Jagan came to power in 2019, for the first time in this state, people from poor and minority sections were given high representation in political power,” said Rao, addressing a press conference.
He said the YSRCP is now taking one more step ahead to include even more people from these communities to contest the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.
Rao highlighted that 50 per cent of YSRCP’s candidates for both the Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies, which amounted to 200 in total, 175 Assembly plus 25 Lok Sabha, were from SC, ST, BC and minority communities.
Of the candidates for 175 Assembly seats, he said 29 were from the SC community, seven (ST), 48 (BC), 91 (OC), along with 19 women candidates.
As many as 84 MLA and 16 MP seats have been allocated to SC, ST, BC and minority communities.
The list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls comprised four from the SC community, one (ST), 11 (BC) and nine (OC). Five of the contestants for the Parliamentary elections were women.
In comparison to 2019, the YSRCP has allocated seven more Assembly seats to candidates from SC, ST, BC and minority communities and four more MP seats to the same bracket.
As per the list, B Jhansi Laxmi will contest from the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency while G Uma Bala is the candidate in Narasapuram and V Vijayasai Reddy will try his luck from Nellore.
As expected, incumbent MP Y S Avinash Reddy will contest from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency.
Jagan Mohan Reddy will contest from Pulivendula Assembly constituency, Krishna Raghava Jayendra Bharath (Kuppam) and M Lavanya (Mangalagiri), the key constituencies in the southern state.
Further, a note from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) observed that 77 per cent or 153 of the contestants, both Assembly and Lok Sabha, are graduates. Candidates also included 58 post-graduates and six doctorates.
Also, 17 doctors, 15 lawyers, 34 engineers, five teachers, two former bureaucrats, one defence personnel and a journalist were part of the candidates list.
