The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has been assured of six out of the nine MLC seats without a contest, in the upcoming elections for the Local Authorities constituencies in Andhra Pradesh.
Polls will now be held only for the three remaining MLC seats, from Kadapa, Kurnool and Nellore districts.
The counting of votes has been scheduled on March 20.
This comes after a few 'Independent' candidates from Srikakulam, West Godavari and Anantapur districts reportedly withdrew their nominations on Friday, due to which the TDP candidates will now enjoy an unopposed win..
The candidates who are certain to be elected as MLCs are Satrucharla Vijaya Rama Raju from Srikakulam, Chikkala Ramachandra Rao from East Godavari, Angara Ramamohan and Mantena Satyanarayana Raju from West Godavari, B Rajanarasimhulu from Chittoor district and Deepak Reddy from Anantapur district.
According to reports, the YSRCP will now contest against the TDP from SPS Nellore, Kurnool and Kadapa.
Meanwhile, TDP general secretary and CM Chandrababu Naidu’s son, Nara Lokesh, is also all set to contest for an MLC seat in the State Legislative Council.
Lokesh will reportedly file his nomination papers on March 6.
The election has been scheduled on March 20, for seven MLC seats under MLAs quota.
However, Naidu is yet to announce party candidates.
The New Indian Express reported that, with the existing strength of both the parties, the TDP can bag five MLCs, while the opposition YSRC can win the remaining two.
It has been reported that YSRC announced Gangula Prabhakar Reddy and Alla Nani as its candidates.
Earlier the members of the TDP Politburo proposed that Lokesh, should run for the MLC elections under the MLA quota, so that he could be offered a cabinet post in the state government.
At present, Lokesh is not a member of either the Legislative Council or the Assembly.