Amaravati, Oct 23 (PTI) YSRCP supremo Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday accused the TDP-led coalition government in Andhra Pradesh of flouting Supreme Court directives and using attacks on opposition candidates to obstruct their nomination filings in the ongoing local body elections.
Addressing a press conference at the YSRCP central office in Tadepalli, Jagan accused the N Chandrababu Naidu-led government of undermining democracy and demanded the appointment of an amicus curiae to supervise the elections.
“The Chandrababu government is not honouring the apex court’s directives and is allowing anarchy in the local body elections. Attacks on YSRCP candidates continue, ballot papers are being snatched, the police are taking sides, and the basic structure of democracy is under threat, pushing the state towards a constitutional crisis,” Jagan claimed.
The former CM demanded the deployment of central forces and CCTV surveillance to monitor the polls, similar to the arrangements made during elections in West Bengal.
Alleging that the nomination process for ZPTC and MPTC elections was no different, Jagan said TDP cadres had attacked YSRCP candidates, including women, threatened them, and snatched and torn up their nomination papers.
He released a book titled ‘Pachamookala Daadulu’ (attacks by yellow mobs), documenting alleged attacks by TDP leaders and cadres on YSRCP candidates, along with what he described as “pictorial evidence”.
The QR code of the book would be made available to everyone seeking to safeguard democracy, and the material would also be submitted to the courts, he said.
“We have been reporting all incidents to the concerned officials and will also move the courts, as democracy is at stake amid the prevailing anarchy. The TDP is rigging the nomination process by even filing papers on behalf of YSRCP candidates to inflate the numbers and mislead the courts,” Jagan claimed.
He alleged that the signatures of YSRCP candidates had been forged and their nominations withdrawn without their consent.
Questioning the alleged obstruction of nominations, Jagan asked why candidates were being prevented from filing papers when the elections were being contested on a party basis, and the YSRCP had already released its list of candidates.
Jagan accused State Election Commissioner (SEC) Anil Chandra Punetha of undermining the Supreme Court’s directives by “cherry-picking a few centres to allow re-nominations”.
He said the SEC had considered only a handful of wards in Tirupati, Kadapa, Rajampeta and Mydukur, despite the party’s complaint that nominations had been obstructed in 19 municipalities.
In Tirupati, the SEC had permitted re-nominations in only 18 wards, while in Kadapa, it had allowed them in just 11 of the 66 wards. The SEC had also permitted re-nominations in only 11 wards in Rajampeta, Jagan said.
“The government has been using every trick to keep the opposition out of the fray by rejecting nominations during scrutiny and resorting to all kinds of malpractices,” he claimed.
Listing alleged attacks on party candidates and leaders, Jagan said YSRCP MP YS Avinash Reddy had been arrested from the party office in Kadapa, while the car of former deputy CM Narayana Swamy had been vandalised in Chittoor, among other incidents.
Jagan played a series of videos purportedly showing attacks by TDP cadres on YSRCP candidates, including the snatching and tearing of nomination papers, physical assaults, vehicle vandalism and other acts of violence.
According to the YSRCP chief, attacks on ZPTC and MPTC candidates had been reported from Gorantla, Dharmavaram, V Kota, Chittoor, GD Nellore, Tadimarri, Kanigiri, Dachepalli, Punganur and Jammalamadugu, among other places. He alleged that nominations had been manipulated elsewhere.
Jagan said the party had reported the alleged bias of officials to the SEC, but “no action was taken”. He claimed this showed that CM Naidu was pulling the strings because he feared the election results after failing to fulfil his poll promises.
Recalling the local body elections held during the previous YSRCP government, Jagan said, “We had conducted local body elections despite the adverse conditions caused by Covid-19 and a hostile SEC (Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar). People voted for us with a decisive mandate because we rolled out welfare programmes and reached out to them effectively.”
He praised party cadres for standing against the tide to “save democracy” and vowed that officials found guilty of wrongdoing would face consequences in the future.
A government source told PTI that the YSRCP had filed more nominations than the TDP in the ZPTC elections.
“YSRCP’s false propaganda on nominations and unanimous elections has been exposed. The large number of nominations reflects keen competition in the local body elections,” a note shared by the government source said.
A total of 32,095 nominations had been filed for 9,829 MPTC seats across 28 districts. TDP candidates had filed 15,017 nominations, while YSRCP candidates had filed 12,419, the note said.
The note alleged that a large number of seats had been won unopposed during the previous YSRCP government, citing figures from urban and rural local body elections held during its tenure.
“During YSRCP rule, 20.72 per cent of seats in urban local bodies were won uncontested. Similarly, 24 per cent of MPTC seats and 19 per cent of ZPTC seats were secured through unanimous elections during the YSRCP government,” it added.
Elections to 100 urban local bodies will be held on October 28, with results on October 30. Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) elections are scheduled for November 3, with counting on November 5.
Gram panchayat elections will be held in three phases on November 26, November 29 and December 2, with results declared on the day of each phase. PTI STH SSK
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