Jagan To Contest Kadapa LS Seat

Putting at rest speculation that he would enter the state Assembly and leave the representation of the Lok Sabha to his mother, former Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Sunday clarified that he would indeed seek re-election for the Kadapa Parliamentary seat and file his nomination papers on April 15.

His mother and widow of former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Y S Vijayalakshmi, will file nomination papers from Pulivendula Assembly constituency on April 16.

This was revealed to INN by former MLC and staunch loyalist of Jaganmohan Reddy, H A Rahman.

Rahman said that the mood in the Jagan camp was upbeat and everyone, right from Jaganmohan Reddy himself to the party workers on the ground, was confident of retaining the seat they had been elected to on the Congress ticket.

Rahman said that the "match-fixing" between the Telugu Desam Party and the Congress would be of no avail, and the people would turn out in large numbers to vote for the person who they see as the true heir of YSR.

The Model Code of Conduct has already come into force with immediate effect in the Kadapa district. The Code applies to all political parties.

Earlier, the Election Commission had increased the security deposits for both the MP and MLA seats. The deposit for the Lok Sabha seat has been increased from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 25,000 while a contestant for an MLA seat has to deposit Rs. 10,000 instead of Rs. 5,000 earlier.

For SC and ST candidates, the deposit amount is half of what others deposit. The candidates have been informed to submit in the revised formats in view of the changes effected.

Similarly, the election expenditure of a contestant for a Lok Sabha seat has been increased to Rs. 40 lakh while a candidate for an MLA seat can spend up to Rs. 16 lakh during the elections.

The Election Commission has permitted candidates to appoint an additional agent who is expected to perform duties related to only the expenditure. (INN)