Andhra Pradesh: YSRCP leaders upset over postponement of MLC polls

Amaravati: The decision of the Election Commission of India to defer the biennial elections to the Legislative Council in Andhra Pradesh has come as a big disappointment to the aspirants in the ruling party.

The Election Commission might have deferred the biennial elections to the Legislative Council wherein the term of the three MLCs in Andhra Pradesh under MLA quota expires on May 31 in view of the critical stand taken by the Supreme Court on holding Assembly polls in many states and byelections to the Assembly and Lok Sabha in some states which the court felt had led to steep spike in the Corona cases. But in case of the MLC elections under MLA quota perhaps no such decision was necessary, some leaders felt.

The voters for MLC elections are MLAs and there will be no public meetings or roadshows. MLAs can undergo rapid test and maintaining social distancing becomes very easy since the number of voters is very limited, they felt. Among those who would be retiring are Legislative Council chairman Shariff Mohmmad Ahmad (TDP), Privileges Committee Chairman Devasani Chinna Govinda Reddy (YSR Congress) and Somu Veerraju (BJP). Since the ruling party has absolute majority all the three seats would be won by them.