Tadipatri municipal elections are set to see Telugu Desam nominees elected unopposed in five wards after no YSRC candidates filed nomination papers before the deadline on Sunday, according to a report by Deccan Chronicle. The wards are 32, 33, 11, 14 and 45 in Tadipatri municipality in Anantapur district.
The development has placed the municipality’s nomination process under attention because Tadipatri has remained a politically sensitive centre in Andhra Pradesh. The town has witnessed prolonged disputes between former Telugu Desam MLA JC Prabhakar Reddy and YSRC leader K Pedda Reddy over the past five years, with the rivalry carrying into the municipal election process.
The YSRC has fielded K Fayaz Bhasha as its candidate for municipal chairperson. However, the party did not file councillor nominations in the five wards before the deadline. Based on the reported nomination position, Telugu Desam nominees in those wards would face no YSRC candidate in the contest. The report does not state that the final election result has already been declared.
The nomination process was reported to have passed off peacefully across municipalities in the region. At the same time, YSRC candidates alleged that the ruling Telugu Desam-led alliance had pressured the police to prevent councillor candidates from filing their papers at several locations. One YSRC candidate was seen appealing to a sub-inspector to permit the filing of nomination papers at Gooty municipality, according to the report.
The allegations have not been independently established in the supplied report. Anantapur Superintendent of Police Jagadish said tight security had been provided at all municipalities, including highly sensitive Tadipatri, throughout the nomination process to prevent incidents. The police deployment was therefore presented by the district administration as a security measure during a politically charged local election period.
The nomination process also produced a separate contest involving the Telugu Desam and Jana Sena alliance at Madakasira municipality. Telugu Desam leader G Radhakrishna filed a nomination as a Jana Sena candidate, even though the party had officially announced A Sreenivasa Rao for the post. The Telugu Desam leadership was reported to have pressed Jana Sena to consider Radhakrishna, with sources claiming that he would formally join Jana Sena.
MLAs from the concerned municipalities led the nomination process across Anantapur and Annamayya districts. The competing nominations and the absence of YSRC councillor candidates in five Tadipatri wards underline how municipal elections in the region are being shaped by alliance coordination, local political rivalries and control over ward-level representation. The next stage of the municipal election process will determine how the nominations are processed and whether the reported unopposed outcomes stand.
