Nellore: Luck favoured a woman from a Schedule Caste family and working as a labourer in a brick kiln to become chairperson of the Addanki Nagar Panchayat in Prakasam district. The seat is reserved for SC woman.
Lakkaboina Estheramma contested as YSR Congress nominee from the 18th ward in Addanki reserved for SC general candidate and she won with a 266-vote majority. Notably, her win came even as the YSRC leaders paid little attention to the ward. The party nominated Estheramma as it could not find a suitable male candidate, and the ward was generally a sure seat for the TDP.
The ruling party leaders, instead, worked hard to ensure the victory of YSRC nominees M Lakshmi Rajyam and Jallipogu Manemma in 6th and 15th wards respectively, which were reserved for SC women. Their aim was to nominate one of them to the chairperson post.
As it turned out, both the women lost the elections. Then, the YSRC leaders decided to consider an ST woman candidate they had nominated for the 7th ward reserved for ST woman, for the chairperson post in view of a provision to nominate an ST candidate if a suitable SC candidate is not available.
Unfortunately, she too lost with 10 votes. Though a recounting was taken up following the YSRC demand for it, the results remained the same.
The leaders dropped their demand for another round of recounting and heaved a sigh of relief when some party workers reminded them about Estheramma’s victory from the 18th ward.
YSR Congress leaders rushed to Ongole to seek the approval of energy minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy for the nomination of Estheramma for the chairperson post.
A resident of Addanki, Hanumanth Reddy, said YSR Congress leaders hardly had any hope on winning 12 seats out of the 20 in Addanki. The town was a stronghold for the TDP, which won 7 seats, the highest for the party in the civic bodies of Prakasam district.
He said Estheramma also had no hope of winning the seat and she remained at home, unconcerned about the outcome of the polls when the counting was in progress. She had concluded that she was set to loss the poll.
