Amaravati, March 10 (IANS) All five candidates of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are likely to be elected unopposed to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council.
Only five nominations were received for the March 20 elections as the deadline for filing nominations ended on Monday.
Three candidates of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and one candidate of its ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) filed nominations on the last day.
Kavali Grishma, Beeda Ravichandra Yadav, and B.T. Naidu filed their papers as the candidates of the TDP.
BJP national executive committee member Somu Veerraju filed his papers as the BJP candidate.
Elections to five MLC seats from the MLAs’ quota are scheduled on March 20.
The TDP has left a seat each for the Jana Sena and the BJP.
Deputy Chief Minister and Jana Sena President Pawan Kalyan’s brother Naga Babu has already filed the nomination for the MLC polls. Chandrababu Naidu has already announced that Naga Babu will be inducted into the Cabinet.
The TDP-led NDA, which has 164 MLAs in the 175-member Assembly, is set to sweep the polls. The TDP has 135 MLAs, the Jana Sena 21, and the BJP eight.
The YSR Congress Party has only 11 seats in the Assembly.
The scrutiny of nominations will be taken up on March 11. The deadline for withdrawal of nominations is March 13.
Meanwhile, B.T. Naidu, who has been nominated by the TDP for second consecutive term as MLC, said that for the first time someone from the backward classes has been re-nominated for second term.
He said the TDP has given MLC tickets to candidates from weaker sections. B.T. Naidu and Ravinchandra Yadav are BCs while Kavali Garishma is from the Scheduled Caste. She is the daughter of senior TDP leader and former Speaker Pratibha Bharati.
Garishma thanked Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and TDP General Secretary Nara Lokesh for fielding her as the party candidate. She said she would raise people’s issues in the Council.
Meanwhile, Lokesh said the TDP has once again proved its sincerity towards the welfare of weaker sections of society by fielding all three candidates from these sections.
He said that Garsihma had been given a ticket to promote young women. He said all those working hard for the party would get the posts. He said those who did not get MLC nominations should not lose heart.
–IANS
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