In a fresh controversy, the YSRCP has filed a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gopal Krishna Dwivedi on Tuesday alleging a conspiracy by the Praja Shanthi Party (PSP). YSRCP national General Secretary, V Vijayasai Reddy alleged that PSP is trying to sabotage their victory by confusing the voters by fielding candidates with names identical to the YSRCP candidates.
The Praja Shanthi Party is a party launched by KA Paul, an evangelist who has now forayed into mainstream politics. Though the party was launched in 2008, they are making their political entry in the upcoming elections in Andhra.
The PSP is fielding candidates in all the 175 Assembly and 25 MP constituencies and co-incidentally in at least 35 Assembly constituencies and four MP constituencies, the names of the PSP candidates are similar to those of the YSRCP candidates.
For instance, the YSRCP candidate in Penamuluru is Kolusu Partha Sarathy, while the PSP candidate is Vemuri Partha Saradhi. In Myalavaram, the YSRCP candidate is Vasantha Venkata Krishna Prasad, while the PSP candidate is Venkata Krishna Rao Bogulu.
The YSRCP alleges that the PSP is a party backed by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to eat into their votes. Apart from the names, the YSRCP also accuses the PSP of deliberately trying to confuse the voters by choosing the 'helicopter' symbol for their party, which is similar to the 'fan' symbol of the YSRCP.
In their complaint to the CEO, Vijayasai wrote, “The Praja Shanthi Party chose a party symbol similar to that of the YSRCP’s party symbol, and then it chose the same party colours as that of YSRCP. Now, by setting up candidates with identical and similar names, the intention of Praja Shanthi Party to create confusion among the voters of Andhra Pradesh is well established.”
It may be recalled that in the recently held Telangana state elections, the TRS party alleged that the voters got confused between the ‘Truck’ symbol allotted to the Samajwadi Forward Bloc and the TRS party’s ‘car’ symbol. Former TRS MLA Tummala Nageswar Rao from Palair and Vemula Veeresham from Nakrekal lost allegedly due to the confusion, the party had said, and went on to file a complaint with the CEO.
Andhra Pradesh will go to polls in a single phase on April 11 for all the 175 assembly seats and 25 MP seats.
The main parties in the fray are TDP, YSRCP, and Jana Sena Party led by actor-politician Pawan Kalyan.