Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh’s ruling party YSR Congress on Monday announced candidates for 18 seats of the state Legislative Council, allotting a lion’s share to the backward classes.
As many as 11 candidates are from the backward classes while there are two from Scheduled Castes and one from Scheduled Tribe. The remaining four are from other castes.
The party has named nine candidates for ‘local authorities’ constituencies, seven from MLAs’ quota, and two nominees for governor’s quota.
YSRCP general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy announced the names of the candidates. He said Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy finalised the names in tune with the party’s policy to ensure social justice.
Terming the chief minister’s decision as historic, Reddy said the YSRCP is the only party that has fulfilled its poll promise to provide adequate political representation to weaker sections of the society. He said the party had given preference to BCs, SCs, STs, and minorities.
The YSRCP leader said that during Telugu Desam Party (TDP) rule, BCs, SCs, STs, and minorities had 37 percent representation in the Legislative Council but YSRCP has given them 43 percent representation in these sections.
The MLC candidates of YSRCP for local bodies’ constituencies are Nathu Ramarao, Kudupudi Suryanarayana, Vanka Raveendernath, Kavuru Srinivas, Meruga Muralidhar, Sipayi Subrahmanyam, Ponnapureddy Ramasubbareddy, A. Madhusudhan, and S. Mangamma.
For seven seats from the MLA quota, the ruling party has fielded V. V. Surya Narayana Raju, Pothula Sunitha, Kola Guruvulu, Bommi Israel, Jayamangala Venkataraman, Chandragiri Yesuratnam, and Marri Rajasekhar.
The YSRCP has recommended the names of Kumbha Ravibabu and Karri Padmasri for nomination to the Legislative Council under the governor’s quota.
The elections for seats under local bodies’ constituencies and MLAs’ quota are scheduled next month.
