Nara Lokesh, Srinivasulu Reddy file nominations in Andhra Pradesh

Notable candidates who filed nominations include M Srinivasulu Reddy (Ongole) and L Sri Krishna Devarayalu (Narasaraopeta) from TDP and PV Midhun Reddy (Rajampet) from the ruling YSRCP, among others.

Srinivasulu Reddy is the father of the Delhi liquor scam case accused Magunta Raghav.

Also Read: Four minors, two adults allegedly ‘apprehended’ in YS Jagan stone-pelting case; a family approaches court

Nomination filing

Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena said the notification was issued before 11 am on Thursday as per the Election Commission’s (EC) guidelines.

The CEO said the nominations from candidates for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections will be accepted from 18 to 25 April between 11 am and 3 pm, except on public holidays.

“Scrutiny of nominations will be held on 26 April, followed by the list of candidates who have qualified. Qualified candidates can withdraw their nominations till 29 April after which the final list will be announced,” said Meena, addressing a press conference at the Secretariat.

Polling for the 25 Lok Sabha seats and 175 Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh will be held on 13 May and counting of votes is on 4 June.

Assembly and LS polls

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

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

According to Meena, polling will be held for 11 hours between 7 am and 6 pm in 169 Assembly constituencies while it will be restricted to nine hours between 7 am and 4 pm at Araku (ST), Paderu (ST) and Rampachodavaram (ST).

Voting will be restricted to 10 hours from 7 am to 5 pm in the Assembly constituencies of Palakonda (ST), Kurupam (ST) and Salur (ST).

Besides three special observers, Meena said the EC has also appointed 50 more general observers, 18 police observers, 25 expenditure observers for Parliament constituencies and 50 expenditure observers for Assembly constituencies.

As many as 5.26 lakh government personnel will be engaged in election duty, he added.

As many as 12,459 polling stations have been identified as critical while webcasting has been planned for approximately 30,111 polling stations, which also include the critical polling stations.

Further, the CEO said end-to-end webcasting of movement of liquor has been implemented to prevent its illegal storage and distribution.

He said Media Certification and Monitoring Committees (MCMC) have been set up at the district and state level to strengthen vigilance against paid news and other violations, besides certifications of advertisements.

Poll related seizures

In the run-up to polls, Meena said 7,335 seizure FIRs have been registered and 8,681 licensed arms have been deposited while 17 more are pending.

One person died in election-related violence, 69 were injured and more than 5.29 lakh properties were involved in poll-related violence while authorities have bound over 51,779 persons, along with the identification of 534 troublemakers.

According to Meena, Vijayawada police have regularly updated the Election Commission on the incident in which stones were hurled at the Chief Minister and the accused has been produced in court today.

The Election Commission set up 150 inter-state checkposts, 143 intra-state checkposts and it has received 12,006 complaints on cVigil app with no cases due and the achievement of a 93 percent strike rate in solving cases within 100 minutes.

Since the announcement of the election schedule (16 March) till 17 April, the EC has seized inducements such as cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals and others worth ₹122 crore and they amounted to ₹179 crore from 1 January to 18 April, he said.

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

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