Actor turned politician Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena party has finalised its first list of candidates for the upcoming Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh on April 11. This development came a day after the Election Commission of India announced the election schedule.
Taking to Twitter, Pawan Kalyan said, “After a diligent process, the General body of our Party has finalised the first list of Candidates for 32 Assembly and 9 Parliamentary Constituencies (sic).”
On Monday, the Jana Sena chief announced two MP candidates; DMR Sekhar from Amalappuram and Dr Akula Satyanarayana from Rajahmundry.
While DMR Shekar is a former ONGC employee, who resigned to join the Jana Sena, Akula is a former BJP MLA who won in 2014. He submitted his resignation to the Speaker in January while joining the Jana Sena.
Andhra Pradesh, which is expected to see a multi-cornered fight, has 175 Assembly and 25 Parliament constituencies. The Jana Sena plans to contest all of them in an alliance with Left parties, CPI and CPM.
Pawan has announced three candidates to the Legislative Assembly so far; Pithani Balakrishna from Mummidivaram constituency in East Godavari district, former Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar from Tenali and Thota Chandrasekhar from Guntur.
The ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and opposition YSRCP are also expected to announce their candidates soon.
In the 2014 elections, Pawan had campaigned for TDP-BJP alliance. He later distanced himself from the BJP after the Centre failed to fulfil the promise to accord special category status to the state. He also found fault with the TDP for not fighting against the injustice done to the state.
The party has already been allotted its poll symbol, a glass tumbler, by the Election Commission.