MLC poll: YSRCP eyes all 7 seats from assembly quota

Vijayawada: With MLC election from the assembly quota scheduled for March 23 and opposition TDP fielding a candidate, the ruling YSRCP is in a fix. The party tried three rounds of mock polling and found that there are at least four invalid votes, indicating a possible defeat for the seventh candidate.
Chief minister and YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has formed seven groups with 22 MLAs each and assigned them to the ministers, who have been asked to train the MLAs to cast their votes.
The chief minister has also decided to host a dinner meeting for all his MLAs on Wednesday and keep them in a camp from where they would be taken to the assembly on Thursday to vote.
YSRCP has the support of 151 MLAs and the lone Jana Sena MLA, besides four dissident MLAs from opposition TDP. However, with Nellore rural MLA Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy raising a banner of revolt, there are at least four to five MLAs in the party who are known dissidents.
The ruling party is expecting the dissident MLAs in Nellore, Chittoor, Prakasam, and NTR districts may harm its prospects. While Komatireddy Sridhar Reddy is expected to vote for TDP, the other dissident MLAs are expected to invalidate their votes, if not vote for the opposition.
It is for this reason the ruling party wants to hold a camp for its MLAs with the in-charge ministers keeping an eye on the MLAs and train them on the voting procedure. The MLAs were asked to be available from Wednesday noon till voting is over on Thursday to avoid defeat and cause discomfort to the ruling party.
The TDP has 23 members in the House out of which four are likely to vote for YSRCP, despite the party’s whip. This would mean that TDP would have 19 votes besides the vote of Sridhar Reddy which would take the total to 20. If ruling party dissidents cast invalid votes, TDP candidate Panchumarthy Anuradha has a chance of winning the seventh seat.