Badvel bypoll on Oct. 30; YSRCP, TDP announce candidates

Kadapa: The Election Commission of India (ECI) released the schedule for by-election to Badvel Assembly constituency in Kadapa district on Tuesday. The seat fell vacant following the death of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) legislator Gunthoti Venkatasubbaiah in March last.

The ECI decided to hold elections to Badvel Assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh on October 30, along with other Assembly and Parliamentary seats lying vacant across the country.

The notification for the by-election will be released on October 1. Nominations can be submitted till October 8. Nominations will be verified on October 11. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 13 and polling will be held on October 30. The votes will be counted on November 2 and the results will be announced.

As soon as the ECI released the schedules, the ruling YSRCP and the Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) officially announced their candidates. The YSRCP declared Dr Dasari Sudha, wife of the late Dr Venkata Subbaiah, who served as an MLA earlier here, as its candidate. Government adviser Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy made the announcement in Vijayawada on Tuesday morning. The TDP decided to field Dr. Obulapuram Rajasekhar, who contested in the 2019 elections, as its candidate in the current elections as well. At a recent Kadapa district review meeting, the party's national president Chandrababu Naidu announced his name. Party state president Kinjarapu Achennaidu on Tuesday issued an official statement to this effect.

There are seven mandals in Badvel constituency - Badvel, Kalasapadu, Avadhoota Kasinayana, B Kodur, Porumamilla, Gopavaram and Atlur. This constituency has been reserved for Scheduled Castes since 2009 general elections. When it was reserved for the SC, the first legislator P. M. Kamalamma was elected from Indian National Congress. Then, in 2014, the YSRCP candidate Tiruvidhula Jayaramulu was elected. He later joined the TDP and later the BJP. In the 2019 elections, Dr. Gunthoti Venkata Subbaiah was elected as MLA from YSRCP but he passed away in March. Total number of voters in this constituency are 2,04,618, among them male voters are 1,02,811 and female voters are 1,01,786.

In the recent local body elections, Gopavaram mandal ZPTC and MPP were captured by the TDP. Remaining all six mandals were bagged by the ruling YSRCP. In view of elections, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy visited Badvel on July 9 as part of his visit to Kadapa. He assured that Badvel, one of the backward constituencies in the state, was set for all round development. He laid foundation stones for development works worth about Rs 500 crore in this region. He announced that, at the request of local leaders and the public, a revenue divisional office would be set up in Badvel. Now, the revenue divisional headquarter is in Rajampet, which is 130 km away from Kashinayana and Kalasapadu mandals in the constituency. This is also an important requirement of the public in this constituency.