Its’ curtains down on the most expensive election campaign ever for a bypoll in the country.
Contesting candidates together spent as much as Rs 300 crore to test their luck for the prestigious Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly constituencies.
As electioneering ended at 5 pm on Friday the bypoll to the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat scheduled for May 8 will be remembered as the most keenly fought with an estimated expenditure of Rs 300 crore.
It’s also going to be the first-ever bypoll to be held under the highest security cover with around 15,000 security personnel on duty.
Polling will begin at 7 am on Sunday under the watchful eyes of the Election Commission with closed circuit surveillance cameras in all 1,512 poll stations, connected to the state headquarters.
At stake is the electoral luck of the YSR Congress president, Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the TD candidate and Rajya Sabha member, Dr M.V. Mysoora Reddy and the Congress nominee and health minister, Dr D.L. Ravindra Reddy.
In Pulivendula Assembly constituency YSR Congress candidate, Ms Vijayalakshmi, is pitted against her brother-in-law and Congress candidate, Mr Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy. The TD has fielded Mr M. Ravindra Reddy alias B. Tech Ravi.
The bypolls were necessitated as the Congress sitting members, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy and his mother, Ms Vijayalakshmi, resigned from the party and floated the YSR Congress.
