Andhra Pradesh is set to witness the polls to the Legislative Council from three segments: one graduates segment and two teachers segments.
Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. (Creative Commons)
All eyes are on the elections to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council from three graduates’ and two teachers’ constituencies on 13 March, as the outcome might indicate the mood of the educated voters.
The counting of the votes will take place on 16 March. The Andhra Pradesh MLC polls are gaining importance as they are being held just 14 months ahead of the 2024 general elections in the state.
The fact that MLC polls — in which only a few voters participate — are not taken seriously by political parties. Yet, the YSRCP and TDP have pulled out all stops for the electoral battle.
The YSRCP wants to prove that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is still calling the shots, while the TDP is keen to establish that winds of change have begun blowing.
Of the total population of around 60 lakh in north Andhra Pradesh, an estimated 2,83,749 graduates have registered with the poll authorities to exercise their franchise.
Until December 2022 — which is the latest electoral roll published by the election commission — there were 51,356 registered eligible graduate voters in Srikakulam, 58,059 voters in Vizianagaram, 18,357 voters in Manyam-Parvatipuram, 11,424 voters in Alluri Sitarama Raju-Paderu, 1,03,459 voters in Visakhapatnam, and around 41,094 in Anakapalle.
The Andhra Pradesh MLC polls will be held for North Andhra, East Rayalaseema, and West Rayalaseema graduates segments and teachers’ constituencies.
These polls have turned even more interesting with claims and counterclaims by the ruling YSRCP and the Opposition TDP over the last few months.
While the YSRCP has been confident that its stranglehold upon voters is still intact, the TDP has been upbeat about the response it has been getting in the roadshows organised by party chief N Chandrababu Naidu under the “Idhem Kharma Mana Rashtraniki” campaign and the “Yuva Galam” padayatra of Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh.
The TDP, for some time, has also trended the hashtag #jaganpaniaipoindhi’ (Translation: Time’s up for Jagan), indicating that there is a lot of anti-incumbency against the YSRCP government and that voters are waiting for an opportune time to teach Jagan a befitting lesson.
This time, the polls to the graduate constituencies are going to be a three-way fight between the YSRCP, TDP, and the BJP. All the candidates have already started campaigning.
Seetamraju Sudhakar, Pernati Syma Prasad Reddy, and Vennapusa Ravindranath Reddy are the YSRCP candidates contesting from the graduates’ constituencies of North Andhra, East Rayalaseema, and West Rayalaseema segments, respectively.
Parvatareddy Chandrasekhara Reddy and MV Ramachandra Reddy are contesting as party-supported candidates from the Teachers’ constituencies of East Rayalaseema, and West Rayalaseema, respectively.
From the TDP, Kancharla Srikanth has been announced as the candidate for the East Rayalaseema constituency, Bhumireddy Ramgopal Reddy for the West Rayalaseema constituency, and V Chiranjeevi Rao for the north Coastal Andhra constituency.
The BJP recently announced Sannareddy Dayakar Reddy, Nagaruru Raghavendra, and PVN Madhav as candidates for the graduates’ constituencies of North Andhra, East Rayalaseema and West Rayalaseema, respectively.
“The composition of the electoral college for these MLC polls has totally changed over the years. Now, poll management has also crept into them. Whoever does it better in it will win. I remember that in 2017, a candidate in one of these MLC polls distributed cellphones, which was never unheard of,” political analyst and commentator Duggaraju Srinivas told South First.
TDP chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu has said he feels Jagan, who once got a resolution passed for the dissolution of the Legislative Council, had no right to seek votes in the elections to the Upper House.
Addressing a meeting online, Naidu recently asked: “Didn’t Jagan say that the funds being spent on the Legislative Council are a mere waste?”
The person who once lowered the dignity of the Upper House had no right to seek votes now, the TDP supremo said.
Naidu called upon the TDP leaders who attended the meeting to take the election seriously and work hard to get the party candidates victory.
Observing that the state government was facing serious anti-incumbency, Naidu said he felt that the wind was blowing completely in favour of the TDP. Thus, the TDP leaders should strive hard to get elected the party nominees, he said.
“The election will be a test to those in-charge in the party and will prove their efficiency,” Naidu told the leaders.
The Legislative Council of a state is constituted according to Article 168 of the Constitution, and makes the state’s legislature bicameral.
As per Article 171 of the Constitution, the total number of members in the Council should not exceed one-third of the total number of members in the Legislative Assembly.
Of the total number of members of the Legislative Council, a third of members are chosen by the electorate, consisting of the members of local authorities. One-12th of them are elected by an electorate consisting of graduates residing in the state.
Another 12th are chosen by an electorate consisting of persons engaged in teaching. A further third are elected by the Members of the Legislative Assembly, and the remaining are nominated by the Governor.
The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council was formed for the first time on 1 July, 1958, and was abolished on 31 May, 1985. It was reconstituted on 30 March, 2007.
The total number of members of the Council was 90 till the bifurcation of the state in 2014.
The current strength of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council is 58. The Legislative Council is a permanent legislative body. One-third of its members retire every two years.
In the voting, electors have to give preferential choices with numbers against the candidates in the ballot papers.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has allowed graduates, who completed their course by 30 October, 2019, to register their names to exercise their franchise in MLC polls in graduates constituencies of Andhra Pradesh.
The notification for the MLC elections was issued on 16 February.
The last date for filing nominations is 23 February. Scrutiny of the nominations will be done on 24 February.
The last date for withdrawal of nominations is 27 February. The date of polling, as already mentioned, is 13 MArch, while the counting will take place on 16 March.
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