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Ahead of the Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) elections in Pulivendula, located in Andhra Pradesh’s Kadapa district, Kadapa Lok Sabha MP YS Avinash Reddy has been placed under house arrest. Visuals of YS Avinash, who is also the cousin of former Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, being dragged by the police in the early hours of Tuesday, August 12, have gone viral.
The ZPTC by-elections in Pulivendula have witnessed large scale protests and allegations from the opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) against the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led state government.
A day earlier, Tummala Hemant Reddy, the YSRCP’s candidate for Pulivendula’s ZPTC election, approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court, contending that voters had not been informed about changes to polling stations.
The stations were changed from Eraballi and Nalugonduvaripalli to Nallapureddypalli. After the state government’s counsel, Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas, contended that 97% voters had been given voting slips on which the polling station was mentioned, the High Court dismissed Hemant Reddy’s petition.
The High Court had also granted YS Avinash Reddy relief from arrest until August 13. The Kadapa MP, YSRCP general secretary Satish Reddy, and 150 others from the party were booked by the Pulivendula police for taking out a protest rally against the TDP-led government over alleged malpractices in the ZPTC election.
The ZPTC elections are scheduled to take place on Tuesday, August 12, chiefly between YSRCP’s Hemant Reddy and TDP’s Mareddy Lata Reddy, for an electorate of approximately 10,600 people.