Wednesday 25 April 2012

‘Mini-general election' in A.P. on June 12

                                                                         
Three months after several Congress MLAs were disqualified and crossed over to the YSR Congress, the Election Commission on Tuesday ordered by-elections to be held on June 12 to fill the vacancies to 18 Assembly and the Nellore Lok Sabha constituency.
The formal notification for conducting these by-elections will be issued on May 18 but the model code of conduct came into force with immediate effect in 12 districts where these constituencies lie, pushing the Congress government on the backfoot at a time when it was announcing a spree of sops as part of the ongoing ‘Prajapatham' programme.
These vacancies were caused by the disqualification of 16 Congress and Shobha Nagi Reddy of the erstwhile Praja Rajyam, besides the resignation of K. Chiranjeevi from his Tirupati Assembly seat following his election to the Rajya Sabha on the ruling party's ticket. The Nellore Lok Sabha seat became vacant after Congress MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy resigned in protest against the inclusion of the name of the late YSR in the CBI's charge-sheet in the illegal assets case involving Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.
The Commission's announcement of the month-long by-election schedule ended weeks of speculation on the possible dates of the by-elections, even though the EC had made it clear that they would be held well before the Presidential elections on June 24. Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwar Lal told reporters here that the dates of the Presidential elections, the annual examinations of students, the law and order situation and the climatic conditions were considered while finalising the schedule.
The 18 Assembly constituencies are Narsannapet (Srikakualam district), Payakaraopet (Visakhapatnam), Ramachandrapuram (East Godavari), Narsapur, Polavaram (West Godavari), Prathipadu (SC), Macherla (Guntur), Ongole (Prakasam), Udayagiri (Nellore), Rajampet, Kodur, Rayachoti (Kadapa), Allagadda, Yemmiganur (Kurnool), Rayadurg, Anantapur Urban (Anantapur), Tirupati (Chittoor) and Parkal (Warangal). The lone Lok Sabha seat going for by-polls is Nellore (Nellore).

High stakes

Over 44 lakh voters are expected to exercise their franchise in what is considered to be the ‘mini-general election' since the 18 Assembly seats span all three regions – Coastal Andhra (nine seats), Rayalaseema (eight) and Telangana (one). Stakes are high for the Congress, which is still licking wounds from its rout in the by-elections in Telangana in March, and equally for the YSR Congress as the disqualified MLAs have to retain their seats. 
from hindu

Political leaders gear up for byelections in Seema

                                                                       
As Election Commission announced that byelections would be conducted on June 12, political leaders in Anantapur, Kadapa and Kurnool are gearing up for them.
Bypolls would be conducted for two Assembly seats ( Anantapur and Rayadurgam) in Anan-tapur district, three Assembly seats ( Raya-choti, Rajampet and Railway Kodur) in Kadapa district and for two Assembly seats (Allagadda and Yemmiganur) in Kurnool district.
In Anantapur district, selection of candidates was almost completed. However, the Congress and the Telugu Desam are yet to officially announce their candidates for Rayadurgam constituency. Initially, former MLA Kapu Ramachandra Reddy expressed his reluctance to contest from the YSR Congress. However, he agreed to contest as no other candidate is available.
Mr Deepak Reddy from the TD, Mr Patil Venugopal Reddy from the Congress and Mr K. Ramachandra Reddy are likely to be in the fray from the constituency.
In Anantapur constituency, former MLA B. Gurunath Reddy from the YSR Congress, Mr Ananta Subba Reddy from the Congress and Mr Mahalakshmi Srinivas from the TD are likely to contest.
In Kurnool district, Ms Bhuma Sobha Nagi Reddy from YSR Congress and Rampulla Reddy from the TD would contest from Allagadda. The Congress is yet to announce its candidate.
Mr Chennakesava Reddy from the YSR Congress and Mr B.V. Mohana Reddy from the TD would contest from Yemmiga-nur.
The Congress is yet to announce its candidate.
In Kadapa district, the Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, launched development works worth Rs.490 works during his three-day tour. The TD president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, also toured the Rayachoti Assembly constituency. The YSR Congress president, Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is yet to tour the three Assembly constituencies where bypolls would be conducted.
from dc

YSR Congress indulging in gimmicks, says DCC chief

                                                                                             
The Congress alone can complete the Machilipatnam port. Purification of the port's foundation stone with milk by activists of the YSR Congress Party will not make any difference.
The YSR Congress is resorting to all such gimmicks only for political ends,” District Congress Committee president Naraharisetti Narasimha Rao has said.
In a press release here on Tuesday, Mr. Narasimha Rao said the Machilipatnam port was sanctioned mainly due to the hard work of the then Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. He said protests and dharna did not amount to development.
It was only after Machilipatnam MLA and Government Whip Perni Venkataramayya threatened to resign, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy held an all-party meeting on compensation to farmers.
Therefore, the demand of YSR Congress leader Samineni Udaya Bhanu that city MP Lagadapati Rajagopal and Minister K. Parthasarathi resign was unjustified.
from hindu

YSRCP welcomes by-elections

                                                                
Welcoming the Election Commission's announcement of the schedule for by-elections to 18 Assembly and one Lok Sabha seat, the YSR Congress Party has expressed the confidence that it will the elections.
“Keeping up the tradition of maintaining a full electoral college before the Presidential polls, the EC has announced the schedule and we welcome the June 12 by-polls,” party spokesperson Ambati Rambabu said.
Talking to reporters here on Tuesday, Mr. Rambabu said the government's desperation to release Rs. 100 crore to all the 18 constituencies going to polls from the CM's fund would come to a nought due to the poll code. “The ill-intention of the State government to split the funds by allotting it to smaller works of less than Rs. five lakh will not be grounded now,” he pointed out.
YSR Congress leadership is ahead in terms of campaign with its president Y .S. Jaganmohan Reddy already extensively touring the constituencies. By undertaking ‘Odarpu yatra', he has already covered these constituencies once and has not embarked on another round.
Till date he has covered Narsannapet, Polvaram, Ramachandrapuram, Narsapur, Prathipadu segments.
Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy is scheduled to tour the other segments also shortly. The YSR Congress already has an advantage as it has announced all those, who were disqualified or resigned in support of their leader as its candidates.
In Tirupati seat, which was vacated by K. Chiranjeevi, the party is fielding B. Karunakar Reddy.
from hindu

State bypolls on June 12

The Election Commission announced on Tuesday the schedule for by-elections to 18 Assembly seats and the Nellore parliamentary seat, to be held on June 12. The vacancies were caused after Speaker Nadendla Manohar disqualified 16 legislators from the ruling Congress who had voted in favour of the no-confidence motion brought by the Telugu Desam on December 5 last year, and acceptance of the resignations by of Mr K. Chiranjeevi (Tirupati) and Ms Sobha Nagireddy (Allagadda).
Spate of polls since 2009
In May 2008, bypolls were conducted for 18 Assembly segments. But this time, in addition to 18 Assembly seats, there is also the Nellore parliamentary seat that is being contested. The elections are spread across 12 districts, which is unprecedented. Voters in the Udayagiri Assembly segment will have to exercise two votes, one for the Assembly bypoll and another for the Nellore Lok Sabha bypoll.
Schedule of byelections in the state
* Issue of notification and filing of nominations: May 18
* Last date of filing nominations: May 25
* Scrutiny of nominations: May 26
* Last date for withdrawal of nominations: May 28
* Date of polling: June 12
* Counting of votes: June 15