ONGOLE: The nomination process for the Ongole Municipal Corporation (OMC) Mayor and corporator posts and municipal chairperson and ward councillor posts across Prakasam district began on Friday, with one nomination filed for an OMC corporator seat and none for the Mayor post on the first day.
District election authorities made arrangements at four centres in Ongole to receive nominations for the 62 OMC wards, aiming to ensure smooth access for candidates and maintain security. Prakasam District Collector and District Chief Election Officer P Rajababu said, “As we have set up four division-level nomination filing offices, officers should focus more on security and smooth conduct of the process at these four offices. Appoint 21 route officers for all 62 OMC wards and four zonal-level officers and the MCC committees with immediate effect to monitor the process closely.”
He also discussed the arrangements with the returning officers. OMC Commissioner T Venkata Krishnaiah, Ongole RDO Chandra Sekhar and other officials were present.
Meanwhile, the YSRCP announced former AP State Arya Vysya Corporation chairman and senior leader Kuppam Prasad as its candidate for the Ongole Mayor post. Ongole Assembly constituency YSRCP in-charge Chunduri Ravi Babu held an introductory meeting with Prasad on Friday and discussed the party’s preparations for the municipal elections.
The TDP is also preparing to field a candidate for the Mayor post. With the YSRCP candidate belonging to the Arya Vysya community, the TDP is considering a candidate from the same community, sources said. Leaders from the Kapu and Kamma communities are lobbying for their nominees.
Ongole MLA Damacharla Janardhana Rao’s support is expected to play a key role in the selection, with reports indicating that he favours fielding a prominent Arya Vysya candidate against the YSRCP nominee. After prolonged discussions on seat-sharing in the combined Prakasam district, the TDP, JSP and BJP finalised their allocations.
The TDP will contest the Ongole Municipal Corporation and the Addanki, Chimakurthy, Kanigiri and Markapuram municipalities. The JSP will field its candidate for the Darsi municipal chairperson post, while the BJP will contest the Giddaluru municipal chairperson post. With the seat-sharing arrangement finalised, the alliance parties are now focusing on selecting candidates for the municipal chairperson posts.
