KURNOOL: Kurnool district, a stronghold of the ruling YSR Congress, may elect Nossum ZPTC member Malki Reddy Venkata Subba Reddy as zilla parishad chairman by way of an interim arrangement.
This is because Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has picked Yerrabothula Venkata Reddy from Kolimigundla mandal for the top ZP post. But the candidate who was elected unanimously as ZPTC is dead. A byelection would be held for Kolimigundla and election to Nandyal too once the state election commission notifies the schedule, said ZP CEO Venkata Subbaiah.
The buzz is that a son of Yerrabothula Venkat Reddy, either Uday or Papi Reddy, whoever gets a ticket, would be the choice for the ZP chairman post.
Lobbying for Mandal Parishad President positions has intensified as groups in villages having allegiance to the ruling party play the one-upmanship, said an MLA, adding, "Groups are emerging within the YSRC and posing problems to the party."
The ruling party has no opposition in the district. MLAs are tight- lipped about discussing the names.
The YSRC has won all the ZPTC seats and 83.88 per cent of the MPTC seats, of which the results were declared on Sunday. This involved 36 ZPTCs and 484 MPTCs in Kurnool district. The district has 53 ZPTCs of which 16 saw unanimous elections of YSRC men while the poll for one seat is pending due to a death.
Meanwhile, polling was held for 36 ZPTCs and for the 36 seats won by YSRC men. YSRC members also won 406 MPTC seats out of 484 where polling was held and results announced, while TDP men got 62 seats, BJP 3 seats, CPI 2 seats and Independents 11 seats. Some 312 MPTCs were elected unanimously, including the YSRCP 266, TDP 43, BJP 2, CPI 1, for a total of 807 seats, besides 11 places across the district where polls were pending.
Apart from this, based on information provided by district elections authorities, 15,55,884 people including 7,75,487 male voters, 7,80,236 females and 161 third genders cast their votes during the elections for MPTC and ZPTC polling held on April 8, 2021.
