Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Three in fray for Amalapuram bypoll

By Our Staff Reporter

RAJAHMUNDRY MAY 16 . Three candidates -- Ganti Vijaya Kumari of the TDP, J.B.Raju of the BSP and P.Vijaya Chakravarthy of the RPI -- are left in the field for the byelection to the Amalapuram (SC reserved) Lok Sabha seat, caused by the death, in a helicopter crash, of G.M.C.Balayogi.

The deadline for withdrawal of nomination was at 3 pm on Thursday and till the very last moment there was expectation that all would withdraw, paving the way for the unanimous election of the TDP candidate and widow of Balayogi, Vijaya Kumari.

But Mr. Raju and Mr. Chakravarthy remained in the field, frustrating the efforts of the local TDP leadership to get their candidate elected without opposition. That would have been a true homage to the departed leader who had contributed so much for the development of the area, TDP leaders said.

A distraught district unit chief of the TDP, Nimmakayala Chinarajappa, said : ''We tried our level best to ensure unanimous election of Ms. Vijaya Kumari. As a mark of respect to the departed leader, all major political parties came forward to cooperate with us. But two non-locals frustrated our efforts, necessitating an election.'' While Mr. Raju resides in Hyderabad, Mr. Chakravarthy is from Visakhapatnam. Originally both are natives of the Konaseema area.

Initially, 18 candidates, including B.Suryakantham and B.Suresh Babu, sister and nephew of Balayogi, filed nominations, but withdrew later. On the last day seven independents withdrew.

Election will be held on May 31. Electronic voting machines will be introduced for the first time in these parts.

No CPI candidate for Devarakonda

Our Hyderabad Special Correspondent writes:

The Communist Party of India has decided not to set up a candidate at Devarakonda for the ensuing byelection caused by the murder of the Congress MLA, Ragya Naik, by the People's War Group of naxalites. The Telugu Desam has also decided not to set up a candidate, and the CPI said it took notice of the request by the APCC president, M.Sathyanarayana Rao, not to set up a candidate against the widow of the slain MLA, who is being fielded as the Congress candidate.

The CPI said that its candidate won six times from Devarakonda, and it was against the tradition of fielding the wife of a deceased MLA unless she was active in politics during her husband's lifetime.

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