Announcing the postponement, Joint Collector and Presiding Officer Shubham Bansal said, “Since the quorum was not met, the election has been adjourned to tomorrow”
Tirupati Municipal Corporation (File Photo)
Tirupati: The election for the Deputy Mayor of Tirupati Municipal Corporation was postponed to Tuesday due to a lack of quorum. Out of 50 members required to be present, only 22 attended the special meeting held at the SV University Senate Hall.
As per election regulations, at least 50% of the members were needed for the voting process to proceed. Announcing the postponement, Joint Collector and Presiding Officer Shubham Bansal said, “Since the quorum was not met, the election has been adjourned to tomorrow”.
The political atmosphere in Tirupati has been tense over the past few days, with intense camp politics playing out. The election was originally scheduled for 11 AM on Monday, with R.C. Munikrishna contesting as the NDA’s candidate, while the YSR Congress announced Laddu Bhaskar Reddy as its candidate at the last moment. Reports indicate that the coalition candidate has the support of 30 corporators, while voting was to be conducted among 47 elected corporators and three ex-officio members.
However, tensions escalated late Sunday night when several YSRC corporators were allegedly taken to hotels against their will. YSRC in-charge Bhumana Abhinay Reddy accused coalition leaders of orchestrating the move to prevent their corporators from voting. By Monday morning, police had made all necessary arrangements for the election, but YSRC leaders claimed that their corporators had been kidnapped and demanded their release before participating in the voting process.
The high-stakes political drama unfolded at the election venue in the SVU Police Station limits. While corporators, supporting the NDA, arrived for the election, YSRC members came in a bus but were allegedly confronted and taken away in cars. Protesting against the incident, YSRC corporators, Mayor R. Sireesha, and the local MP Dr. M. Gurumurthy boycotted the election, stating that they would only participate if their members were released. They also warned of legal action if their demand was not met.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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