Khaleel Ahmed first Muslim candidate to contest from Nellore city
YSRCP nominee for Nellore city Mohammad Khaleel Ahmed along with Nellore city MLA Anil Kumar Yadav during a meeting with Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at the latter’s camp office in Tadepalle
Nellore: Mohammad Khaleel Ahmed as the YSRCP candidate from Nellore city constituency will be the first Muslim candidate from Nellore city constituency since its formation in 1952.
Muslims constitute about 20 to 25 per cent of the population in the constituency but they never got a chance to contest and were always seen as vote bank.
In 1955, one Shaik Moulana Saheb from Udayagiri Assembly constituency got elected on Congress ticket. The TDP had given the opportunity to former Nellore Mayor Shaik Abudl Aziz by putting him up as the candidate from Nellore Rural constituency in 2019 but he lost to YSRCP nominee Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy with majority of 20,776 votes.
The YSRCP feels that Khaleel Ahmed would be able to offset the damage caused to the party’s image by incumbent MLA Poluboyina Anil Kumar Yadav who had earned a name of being arrogant and foul mouthed leader. Khaleel Ahmed is a resident of Dadivari Street of Nellore city. He is YSRCP corporator from the 46th division.
Khaleel Ahmed started his political journey with CPM. Initially, he was a member of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) town committee. He became member of CPM in 2001. He joined YSR Congress Party in 2011 and has been playing active role in the party. He was elected as corporator twice in 2014 and 2019.