Nomination process begins, 235 file papers

Vijayawada: As many as 196 candidates filed their nominations for assembly, while 39 submitted their papers for Parliament elections on the first day of filing of nominations on Thursday. Mangalagiri town in Guntur district was painted in yellow as TDP workers attended the nomination filing of party’s national general secretary Nara Lokesh. Lokesh adopted the tradition of his father, TDP chief and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, to have his nomination filed by party workers. Since 1989, party workers have been filing Naidu’s nomination at Kuppam assembly segment.As TDP is fighting the election with BJP and Jana Sena, local coordinators of the three parties participated in the filing of nomination on behalf of Lokesh. Thousands of TDP, BJP, and Jana Sena workers held special puja at Sitarama Kovela by putting the nomination papers at the feet of the presiding deity. Later, inter-faith prayers were held outside the temple following which a huge rally passed through the streets of Mangalagiri to the officer of the election officer. TDP’s Mangalagiri coordinator Nandam Abaddiah, Jana Sena in-charge Chillapalli Srinivasa Rao, and BJP coordinator Panchumarti Prasad led the rally to Tadepalli-Mangalagiri municipal corporation office, where two sets of nomination papers were submitted to the returning officer on behalf of Lokesh.TDP’s Guntur Lok Sabha contestant Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, and Ongole Lok Sabha contestant Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy also filed their nominations on Thursday. While Lokesh adopted the tradition of his father, the latter is breaking his usual practice this time. Naidu’s wife Bhuvaneswari will file nomination on his behalf on Friday.As many as 43 nominations from 39 candidates were submitted for 25 Parliament seats across the state on Thursday. Notable submissions included PV Midhun Reddy of YSRCP at Rajampet and TDP’s Bhupesh Reddy at Kadapa. In Visakhapatnam, 10 candidates from different parties, including three for Vizag Lok Sabha constituency, filed their nominations. Former TDP minister and Visakha North MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao filed his nomination for Bheemili assembly constituency, while his son Ravi Teja filed two sets of nominations on behalf of TDP for the same seat. Prajasanthi Party president KA Paul also filed his nomination for Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency.Election officer and district collector A Mallikharjuna said an independent candidate, Vaddi Hari Ganesh, filed the first nomination for Visakhapatnam LS seat, followed by Paul and Polamarasetti Satyavathi of Pyramid Party of India. In Rayalaseema region, former IRS officer Daggumalla Prasad Rao filed his nomination on behalf of TDP for Chittoor Parliament constituency, while TDP’s Bastipati Nagaraju and Chadipiralla Bhupesh Subbirami Reddy filed their papers for Kurnool and Kadapa Lok Sabha constituencies, respectively.