Kadapa: Political heat is building up in Kadapa district with the start of the byelection process in Badvel constituency. A total of 35 nominations were filed, of which 22 were brought in on the last day on Saturday.
The constituency has had two by-elections in the past, both necessitated by the demise of sitting legislators, as is the case now too. The death of ruling YSR Congress MLA Dr Gunthoti Venkatasubbaiah on March 28 this year necessitated the present bypoll. A total 2,16,139 voters can exercise their franchise -- among them 1,07,340 women and two transgenders.
In the previous bypolls too, the family members of the deceased MLAs were fielded for the elections. One won and the other lost.
In the 1962 assembly elections, Vaddemanu Chidanandam contested as an independent candidate and won the seat. His death the same year led to the first bypoll in the constituency, in 1963. Then, Venkataramana, the eldest son of the late Chidanandam, an independent candidate, and Nagireddy Subbareddy, a Congress candidate, were the main contestants. Nagireddy Subbareddy won by a majority of 2,155 votes and remained an MLA until 1967. Venkataramana showed no interest in contesting the subsequent elections.
Vaddemanu Sivaramakrishna Rao, younger son of Chidanandam contested several times and won twice. He has recently been admitted to the Sanyas Ashram in Rajahmundry.
Bijivemula Virareddy, a six-time MLA representing Badvel, died of heart attack on December 25, 2000. A second by-election was thus necessitated. Virareddy's daughter Konireddy Vijayamma, who contested as the Telugu Desam nominee, won the seat in the February 19, 2001 by-election with a majority of 19,375 votes. She got 58,805 votes while her nearest rival Congress candidate Sivaramakrishna Rao got 39,430 votes. The constituency has been reserved for Scheduled Castes since 1989.
The third by-election now sees the late MLA’s wife Dr Dasari Sudha contesting as the ruling YSRC candidate. While Telugu Desam is keeping off the polls, PM Kamalamma enters the fray as the Congress candidate and Panatala Suresh as the BJP candidate. The YSR Congress is working hard to retain this seat.
