Andhra Pradesh polls: Filing of nominations for Assembly, Lok Sabha begins

YSRCP chief and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (Pulivendula), TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu (Kuppam) and his son Nara Lokesh (Mangalagiri) and Janasena founder and actor Pawan Kalyan (Pithapuram) , are among the key leaders contesting Assembly polls.

While Andhra Pradesh BJP chief D Purandeswari (Rajahmundry), APCC president and Jagan’s sister YS Sharmila (Kadapa) are in the Lok Sabha poll fray.

While the YSRCP is fighting solo, TDP, Janasena and BJP are part of the NDA. The Congress has said it will have tie up with its INDI alliance partners CPI and CPM in the state.

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Nomination filing

“The crucial part of accepting nominations for the electoral process will begin from Thursday and all the district officials have made the arrangements,” said Meena in a press release on Wednesday.

Besides opening a helpdesk for filing nominations, the Election Commission will also open helpdesks in all the Assembly constituencies.

Though there is an option to file nominations through the Suvidha app, the hard copies must be submitted to the Returning Officer (RO).

He observed that each candidate can file a maximum of four sets of nomination and a candidate can contest a maximum of only two seats.

Along with the candidate, only four more persons will be allowed into the Returning Officer’s office for filing the nomination and all others will be restricted at a distance of 100 metres. Likewise, only three vehicles will be allowed into the RO’s office, he said.

The CEO said Parliamentary candidates have to deposit ₹25,000 and Assembly candidates ₹10,000, which is halved in the case of SC/ST candidates.

To record the entire nominations procedure, the Election Commission has set up CCTV cameras in the office where the nominations are received and also the way leading to it, said Meena.

Model Code of Conduct

As part of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), the CEO said the poll body will also record the candidates coming in a procession to file their nominations.

Moreover, Meena highlighted that from the time of filing the nominations, a candidate’s expenditure will be accounted for, along with announcements in newspapers and paid news.

Andhra Pradesh is currently witnessing a high voltage campaign by all the major political parties.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, YSRCP won 22 seats while TDP got three. In the Assembly polls held in the same year, the ruling YSR Congress became victorious with 151 seats while the TDP managed to win only 23 and Janasena – one seat.

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