New faces in fray from Anantapur Lok Sabha segment
Arrangements have been made at all 3,884 polling stations in 14 Assembly segments in the district.
Anantapur: A total of 163 candidates are testing their fate from 14 Assembly segments of Anantapur district and 14 candidates are in the contest from Anantapur LS segment while 9 candidates are in the fray from Hindupur LS segment.
As internal reports give unclear predictions for both the parties –YSRC and TD, the candidates tried to lure voters by offering cash in all areas.
In the last elections, TD had won 12 Assembly segments and two Lok Sabha segments while YSRC was confined only to two Assembly segments Uravakonda and Kadiri in the district and Kadiri MLA had defected to TD.
Film actor Nandamuri Balakrishna, is contesting for second time from Hindupur Assembly segment where former IGP Md. Iqbal is contesting on YSRC seat. Balakrishna’s wife Vasundhara was leading poll campaign at Hindupur, following a tough contest as YSRC targets on minority voters.
Further, new faces are in fray from Anantapur LS segment. Sitting MP J.C. Diwakar Reddy’s son J.C. Pavan Reddy is contesting for the first time as TD candidate while former DRDA project director T. Rangaiah is a candidate from YSRC. CPI candidate is D. Jagadish and BJP fielded Devineni Hamsa. Sitting MP N. Kristappa is contesting for the second time from Hindupur LS seat while YSRC fielded retired inspector Gorantla Madhav.
APCC chief N. Raghuveera Reddy is contesting from Kalyanadurgam and hoping for success in a triangle fight. Out of two ministers, Paritala Sunitha sacrificed her Rapthadu seat to her son Sriram. Another minister Kaluva Srinivasulu is contesting for a second time from Rayadurgam. Tadipathri MLA J.C. Prabhakar Reddy fielded his son Asmith Reddy while YSRC fielded their faction rival Pedda Reddy.
Collector and election officer G.Veerapandian said that elaborate arrangements have been made at all 3,884 polling stations in 14 Assembly segments in the district. A total of 32,39,517 voters will cast their votes in the district.
Anantapur District Police initiated necessary security measures to avoid untoward violence during polling in hyper sensitive and faction hit villages in the district. Briefing the elaborate security measures, SP G.V.G. Ashok Kumar said that around 36,834 people, who were connected with various offences such as 2,822 rowdy sheets, 2716 people involved in poll related violences and also other criminal cases, bound over to avoid untoward incidents. This time, 37 persons connected to social media related criminal activities were also bounded, following posing of messages against political parties and leaders in a hasty manner.