MLC bypoll to Vizag Local Bodies constituency to be a ‘no-contest election’ as NDA chooses to sit it out

TDP opts out of Visakhapatnam MLC bypoll, making it a no-contest election for YSRCP candidate Botcha Satyanarayana.

The MLC bypoll to the Visakhapatnam Local Authorities constituency in Andhra Pradesh scheduled for August 30 will be a ‘no-contest election’, with the ruling TDP-led NDA combine deciding not to field any candidate.

It is learnt that TDP national president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has decided that his party will sit out the byelection, making it a cakewalk for YSRCP candidate and former Minister Botcha Satyanarayana.

The seat in the Legislative Council fell vacant after Vamsi Krishna Yadav quit the YSRCP and resigned as a member of the House, ahead of the general elections in Andhra Pradesh. He then joined the Jana Sena Party (JSP) and won the Visakhapatnam South Assembly constituency by defeating YSRCP’s Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar.

Though the YSRCP lost the Assembly elections miserably, securing only 11 of the total 175 seats, the party, with 39 members, still has a majority in the 58-member Legislative Council.

Citing the reasons for the TDP stepping out of the contest, the party’s Andhra Pradesh unit president Palla Srinivasa Rao said, “Mr. Naidu believes it (the MLC bypoll) is not worth contesting and that it is a waste of resources.”

However, it is believed that running the campaign and winning the bypoll would have been a Herculean task for the TDP. They would have set up camps across the undivided Visakhapatnam district and undertaken hectic parleys to convince the local body members, which the party believes is not worth doing at this moment.

The last-minute decision of the TDP leadership came as a shocker for many as several top leaders of the party were eyeing the MLC post. Among the prominent names were Gandi Babji, Byra Dilip Chakravarthy and Peela Govind.