Tirupati: Battle lines are being drawn in the erstwhile Chittoor and Nellore districts as the nomination process for the assembly and Lok Sabha elections kicked off on Thursday with the issuance of a gazette notification.
Prominent candidates across the political spectrum were busy with the process of filing their nominations, setting the stage for an intense multi-cornered contest in these regions.
In Nellore district, sitting MLAs and YSRC candidates Ramireddy Pratap Kumar Reddy and Nallapureddy Prasanna Kumar Reddy submitted their papers from Kavali and Kovur constituencies respectively.
Another sitting legislator Kotamreddy Sridhar, contesting on the TD-JS-BJP alliance ticket, also filed his nomination from Nellore Rural.
Other key nominees in Nellore included Vemireddy Prashanthi Reddy of TD from Kovur and Gunji Venkateswarlu of the Bahujan Samaj Party from Kavali. For the Nellore LS, Sk. Mehaboob Basha of the Republican Party of India filed his papers.
In the erstwhile Chittoor district, Bhumana Abhinay accompanied by Mayor Sirisha filed his YSRC nomination for the Tirupati assembly segment.
Among the other YSRC candidates filing their papers on day one were MC Vijayananda Reddy (Chittoor), Nukathoti Rajesh (Satyavedu), N Venkate Gowda (Palamaner), Sanjeevaiah Kiliveti (Sullurpet), Peddireddy Dwarakanath Reddy (Tamballapalle) and Nedurumalli Ram Kumar (Venkatagiri).
The NDA saw nominations from Gali Bhanu Prakash (Nagari), Gandhi Rathnavel (GD Nellore), GC Jagan Mohan (Chittoor), Pulivarthi Venkata Mani Prasad (Chandragiri) and Bojjala Venkata Sudhir Reddy (Srikalahasti).
The Congress fielded Balaguruvan Babu from Satyavedu. For Punganur, nominations came from Challa Ramachandra Reddy (TD) and G Murali Mohan (Congress). Prasada Rao Daggumalla of the alliance also filed his nomination for the Chittoor (SC) Lok Sabha seat.
