Andhra Pradesh Assembly polls: The stage is set between Jagan Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu

Amaravati:

With the Election Commission on Saturday announcing the voting schedule for the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha elections on May 13, the southern states have sounded the clarion call for a duel between the two heroes.

Andhra Pradesh, which has a electorate of 4.08 crore, including 20.70 crore men, 20.70 crore women and 3,482 voters of the third gender, is gearing up to elect members of the 16th Legislative Assembly with 175 members besides 25 Lok Sabha members. a constituency.

The YSRCP, led by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, which secured nearly 50 per cent votes in the last Assembly elections with 151 seats, is trying its best to retain power. In 2019, the LDF won only 23 seats and the Jana Sena Party only 1 seat.

The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP on Saturday announced the list of candidates for all 175 parliamentary seats and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies, coinciding with the date when the Election Commission of India (ECI) announces the election notification.

According to the YSRCP, 50 per cent of all seats in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls have been allocated to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, BC and minority communities.

Jagan Mohan Reddy will contest from Krishna Raghava Jayendra Bharath (Kuppam) and M Lavanya (Mangalagiri) from Pulivendura Assembly constituency, a key constituency in the southern state.

As per the list, B Jhansi Laxmi will contest from Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency, G Uma Bala (Narasapuram) and V Vijayasai Reddy (Nellore).

The TDP, on the other hand, is making every effort to grab power by joining the NDA and allying with actor Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena and the BJP ahead of the polls.

The Left, Congress and other smaller parties have less influence in the polls.

The N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP recently rejoined the NDA alliance, while the Jana Sena has emerged as a local ally of the BJP.

The NDA partners entered into a seat-sharing agreement under which the BJP will take 6 Lok Sabha seats and 10 assembly seats, 17 assembly constituencies and 144 assembly constituencies from the People’s Democratic Party and Pawan Kalyan The led PPP contested from 2 Lok Sabha seats and 21 Assembly seats.

Naidu has announced a list of 128 candidates and 16 more are about to be announced, which could be announced any time from now. So far, Kalyan has revealed the names of only seven Jana Sena candidates, including clarifying his identity and announcing that he will contest the assembly elections from the Pitapuram constituency.

The Jana Sena still has to reveal its candidate list for 14 more assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats, while the BJP is yet to announce its candidate list for either the Assembly or Lok Sabha elections.

After the TDP conceded several seats to the BJP and Jana Sena as part of the seat-sharing deal, many seat candidates experienced severe heartburn and showed signs of rebellion.

Senior TDP leader and former Undi MLA VV Sivarama Raju and Pithapuram party leader SVSN Varma publicly expressed their disappointment.

When Pawan Kalyan suddenly announced at a party meeting on Thursday that he would contest the assembly elections from Pithapuram, Varma’s supporters protested and Some placards and documents were burned in the office.

Meanwhile, the NDA partners have scheduled an election meeting at Boppudi in Chilakaluripeta constituency on March 17, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend.

On the eve of the polls, YSRCP chief Jagan announced candidates for 24 Lok Sabha constituencies and 175 Assembly constituencies.

The new chief, appointed after a dramatic reshuffle, replaced several sitting MPs, causing great consternation and quitting the party, including five members of the House of Commons and one member of the House of Federation.

YSRCP is yet to announce the final list of candidates.

Unfazed by the exit, Reddy was so confident in his welfare-dependent statecraft that he coined the phrase “why not 175” in a bid to “sweep” all parliamentary seats.

In a show of strength, he has addressed four large sidham (readiness) election meetings in all major districts of the state, attended by hundreds of thousands of supporters.

At the same time, the Congress party led by Jagan’s sister YS Sharmila has also decided to contest all 175 seats in the Assembly and 25 seats in the Lok Sabha in the elections to be held simultaneously.

Though the party has been reduced to a political minnow after the Congress-led UPA-II split the state, the old great party is now trying to inject some energy into the political landscape of the southern state.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)