BJP fields Somu Veerraju for Andhra Pradesh MLC elections
Amaravati: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded its national executive committee member Somu Veerraju as the candidate for the biennial elections to Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council.
The Central Election Committee of the BJP on Monday approved the candidature of Somu Veerraju, who had served as the party’s state unit president from 2020 to 2023.
He had earlier served as a Member of the Legislative Council from 2015 to 2021. He was floor leader of the BJP in the Council.
Elections to five MLC seats from the MLAs’ quota are scheduled for March 20.
The vacancies arose due to the retirement of four MLCs of TDP and the disqualification of Janga Krishna Murthy by the Council chairman last year following his rebellion against the YSR Congress Party.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has left a seat each for its alliance partners, the BJP and Jana Sena.
TDP national president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday approved the candidature of Kavali Grishma, Beeda Ravichandra Yadav and B.T. Naidu.
Following pressure from the BJP leadership, CM Naidu agreed to leave one seat for the party.
Deputy Chief Minister and Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan’s brother Naga Babu has already filed the nomination for the MLC polls. CM Naidu has already announced that Naga Babu will be inducted into the Cabinet.
The TDP-led NDA, which has 164 MLAs in the 175-member Assembly, is set to sweep the polls. The TDP has 135 MLAs, Jana Sena 21 and the BJP eight.
YSR Congress Party has only 11 seats in the Assembly.
Due to several contenders in the TDP for the MLC seats, CM Chandrababu Naidu had to convince them to wait till 2027, when seven seats are going to fall vacant.
The notification for the MLC elections was issued on March 3. The last date for filing nominations is March 10. The scrutiny of nominations will be taken up on March 11. The deadline for the withdrawal of nominations is March 13.