Former Speaker Pratibha Bharathi, senior Telugu Desam leader M. A. Sharief, BJP leader Somu Veera Raju and YSR Congress nominee D C Govinda Reddy are expected to be declared elected unopposed to Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council as they were the only four candidates who filed nomination papers on Thursday for election to three regular vacancies from the MLA quota and a bye-election caused by the death of former minister Paladagu Venkata Rao.
It was quirk of fate for Ms. Bharathi who is returning to active politics after close to a decade.
The Telugu Desam party leadership zeroed in on her name as the candidate for the bye-election vacancy after it was found that former MLC Jupudi Prabhakar Rao, who was originally nominated, was not eligible to file the nomination papers as he was not enrolled as a voter in Andhra Pradesh but in Hyderabad.
Thursday was the last date for filing the nomination papers while May 25 is the last date for withdrawals.
In a last-minute change, The Telugu Desam Polit bureau on Wednesday decided to nominate leaders of Scheduled Caste and minority community to the two seats it was contesting, while it allotted the third seat to alliance partner, BJP.
Both the parties have the strength to win the three seats while the YSR Congress is set to bag the fourth seat.
Meanwhile, TDP leadership is likely to nominate senior TDP leader Somreddy Chandramohan Reddy, G Srinvasulu Naidu, party leader from Chittoor and another senior functionary T D Janardhan for three of the four seats through the Governor’s quota.
Although the name of former Vijayawada Mayor Panchumarthi Anuradha has been doing rounds as the fourth candidate, TDP sources said that TDP president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was not appreciative of the refusal of Ms. Anuradha to be fielded in place of Jupudi Prabhakar Rao.
