Tirupati all set to elect its first mayor 13 years after upgrade from municipality to Corporation

TIRUPATI: Tirupati is going to elect its first Mayor, 13 years after its upgradation from municipality to Corporation. The government has allocated the mayor’s post to a general category woman. There are 2,66,761 voters in the corporation limits. Of which, 1,32,539 are male, 1,34,170 female and 52 belong to third category. In all, there are 50 wards under corporation limits.

Around 294 polling stations had been identified in the corporation limits and for every 1,000 voters, a polling station had been allotted. Meanwhile, aspirants from political parties have been trying to get assurance from their respective parties for the mayor’s post.

The Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) is the largest urban local body in Chittoor district. The civic body is spread in an area of 27.44 square kilometers and has a population of 3,74,260, as per 2011 Census. Each ward consists of around 2,000 houses in the civic body limits. Over 70,000 pilgrims visit the temple city on a daily basis.

Tirupati was made a municipality in 1886. It was upgraded into Municipal Corporation in 2007. The area under MCT has expanded with the merger of nearby villages such as MR Palli, Rajeev Nagar and Timminaidupalli panchayats. The civic polls had been postponed earlier as per the directions of the court in 2007 and 2012.

Now, leaders of YSRC, TDP, Jana Sena-BJP have been evolving strategies to win maximum number of seats in the civic polls. Leaders from these parties have been trying to get assurance from the party chiefs for the post of mayor, which has been allocated to a general category woman. 

“Not only for the post of mayor, aspirants at division level too have begun lobbying for the corporators’ posts. In fact, both the ruling and Opposition parties have strong hold in the temple town,” said a senior politician. 

YSRC evolves strategy to sweep polls
Kadapa: The political parties in the State are gearing up for local body elections. The YSRC and TDP leaders have started evolving strategies to win maximum number of seats. Chief Adviser for Public Affairs and YSRC district in-charge Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy held a meeting with party leaders at the party office here on Sunday. He discussed the strategies to be adopted in the ensuing local body polls with senior leaders including MP YS Avinash Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister SB Amzath Basha and MLAs G Srikanth Reddy, P Ravindranath Reddy, Meda Mallikarjuna Reddy, Sudhir Reddy and A Amarnath Reddy. Speaking on the occasion, Ramakrishna Reddy sought the YSRC leaders to make coordinated efforts to win more seats in the local body polls. He asked them to create awareness among people on the Navaratnalu being implemented by the government. “TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu is using the BC reservation issue to gain political mileage,” he remarked. Meanwhile, YSRC sources said that K Suresh Babu, the former mayor, is likely to be nominated for the post once again. The Kadapa mayor post is reserved for BCs. In fact, Suresh Babu wanted to contest Assembly elections from Kadapa constituency in the 2014 elections but the party high command fielded SB Amzath Basha.
Sources said that former MLA Akepati Amarnath Reddy is likely to be the ZP chairman candidate for the YSRC. Amarnath Reddy wished to contest Assembly elections from Rajampet but the the party high command gave the ticket to Meda Mallikarjuna Reddy. The high command promised to give MLC ticket to Amarnath Reddy. But since there is a proposal to abolish Legislative Council, the high command is considering his name for the ZP chairman post. 
Meanwhile, TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu asked the district leaders to come to Amaravati to evolve strategy for the local body polls. The TDP sources said that all the senior leaders in the district had left for Amaravati to hold discussions with Naidu.