Nellore: YSR Congress leaders in Atmakur assembly constituency are putting in massive efforts to motivate the voters exercise their franchise without fail and meet the Rs 1 lakh votes majority’ target set by the party leadership.
The campaign for the byelection concluded on Tuesday evening.
Incidentally, the BJP has alleged that the YSRC is distributing Rs 500 to voters in the constituency. The party said the YSRC is worried over a poor majority.
Sources in YSR Congress too said they noticed a lack of interest among the people towards the present bypoll.
“It is for the local leaders to generate interest among the people as regards the bypoll, but most of them are inactive because their bills pertaining to contract works are not cleared yet,” the sources said.
“Though some bills were cleared in Atmakur in the last few days to please the leaders and activate them, it looks too late. They would have been very active if their dues were cleared 20 days ago,” a local YSR Congress leader said.
Referring to the low, 50 per cent voting recorded during the election for ZPTC and MPTC seats last year, he said, “It is going to be a herculean task to bring the voters to the polling stations this time also unless local leaders get active.”
Another reason for reluctance among the voters to exercise their franchise this time is the ongoing agriculture works and humid conditions in view of the severe summer, the leader said.
When asked about the likelihood of a sympathy wave benefiting YSR Congress nominee Mekapati Vikram Reddy, due to the death of his brother and sitting MLA Mekapati Goutham, he said, “Yes, we are banking on that.”
All the ministers and ruling party MLAs left Atmakur as per the EC rule against outsiders’ presence in the constituency. There are 14 candidates in the fray including Viram Reddy and BJP’s Bharatkumar.
The election is scheduled for Thursday, June 23 from 7 am to 6 pm and officials said all arrangements are in place.
