Kondapalli municipal chairman poll today amid tight security

Vijayawada: Kondapalli Municipal Chairman election will be held on Wednesday as per the orders of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

The officials failed to conduct the election for two days on Monday and Tuesday due to uproar created by the YSRCP councilors.

The Kondapalli Municipality has 29 municipal wards. In the elections held on November 15, the TDP and YSRCP won an equal number of 14 wards each. An independent candidate, joined the TDP.

Consequently, the TDP strength increased to 15. Vijayawada MP Kesineni Nani will cast his vote for the TDP as the ex-officio member of the Kondapalli Municipality. When the council meeting was convened on Monday and again on Tuesday, the YSRCP councilors created uproar alleging that Vijayawada MP has registered his name in Vijayawada Municipal Corporation as ex-officio member of the council and he could not vote in Kondapalli Municipality.

As per the rules, the MP can cast his vote in any municipality or municipal corporation under the limits of the Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency.

Kesineni Nani made it clear that he had never cast his vote in Vijayawada Municipal Corporation. He said that he has the right to cast his vote in Kondapalli Municipality. When the officials failed to conduct the meeting peacefully to elect the new chairman, the MP moved the High Court and filed a petition.

After hearing the arguments from both sides, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday issued orders that the elections should be conducted on Wednesday to elect the new chairman. The High Court directed the officials that the election should be held with full police bandobust and proper protection should be given to the elected councilors.

The High Court had summoned the Vijayawada in-charge Police Commissioner of Vijayawada Pala Raju and the municipal commissioner of Kondapalli and issued instruction for the peaceful conduct of elections to elect the new chairman. The High Court questioned as to why the officials failed to conduct the election peacefully and issued orders that the election should be conducted with full police bandobust on Wednesday.

Mylavaram MLA, Vasanta Krishna Prasad will cast his vote for the YSRCP as the ex-officio member of the municipal council. The YSRCP will get 15 votes. The TDP has an edge of one vote and will rule the municipality. The MP praised the TDP elected councilors stating that the TDP councilors are loyal to the party and will stand united in the elections to be held on Wednesday. Kondapalli and Ibrahimpatnam panchayats were merged and new municipality was created with the name of Kondapalli Municipality.