KADAPA: Badvel Assembly Constituency is geared up for the October 30 by-election, for which nomination process will commence on Friday. All political parties, including the ruling YSRC, are taking the bypoll as a prestigious issue. A total 2,16,139 voters are there as per the latest revised voter list and among the 1,07,340 are women and two are transgenders. The by-election was necessitated following the demise of the incumbent G Venkata Subbaiah on March 28 following ill-health.
In the 2019 elections, YSRC candidate Venkata Subbaiah won the elections defeating his nearest rival Obulapuram Rajasekhar with a margin of 44,734 votes. In the elections, BJP candidate T Jayaramulu had secured just 735 votes. Badvel Assembly Constituency, which came into being in 1952, covers Badvel, Gopavaram, Atluru, Kalasapadu, B Kodur, Avadutha Kasinayana and Porumamilla mandals. In the first election held in 1955, Setty Bandharu Rathna Sabhapathy won the elections defeating his nearest rival Puttamreddy Ramana Reddy by 11,523 votes and became the first MLA of Badvel.
Till now, 17 elections were held and the ensuing bypoll will be the 18th one. After delimitation of the Assembly constituencies in the state, the Badvel assembly constituency was reserved for SC in 2009. Former minister late B Veera Reddy holds the record of representing Badvel six times. He was elected in 1967 and 1978 on Congress ticket, in 1983 as an independent in 1985,1994 and 1999 on TDP ticket. After his demise in 2001, a by-election for Badvel was held for the first time and Veera Reddy’s daughter K Vijayamma successfully contested the by-poll.
Since 2009, the assembly constituency has become a bastion of YSR family supporters. In 2009, Kamalamma won the elections and in 2014, T Jayaramulu from the YSRC bagged the seat and in 2019 it was G Venkata Subbaiah. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is keen on retaining the seat and is fielding Dr Sudha, wife of G Venkata Subbaiah. The TDP is again fielding O Rajasekhar.
On July 9, the Chief Minister inaugurated and laid foundation stones for `421 crore development works in the constituency and recently gave green signal for formation of Badvel revenue division, a long -standing demand. Meanwhile, district collector and district election officer V Vijay Ramaraju sought people’s support for a peaceful bypoll.