Subham Bansal, Joint Collector and Presiding Officer for the election to the post of MCT Deputy Mayor, awaiting for the arrival of corporators, at SVU Senate Hall in Tirupati on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar
Joint Collector Subham Bansal, the Presiding Officer for the election, waited for the arrival of corporators at Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) Senate Hall, which was the designated venue for the meeting, but the number of corporators fell short of the required quorum.
Several corporators, who had reportedly switched sides from the YSRCP to the ruling alliance party, made it to the venue. However, many more corporators from the opposition camp, who were resting at a private resort in Tamil Nadu since three days, were expected to return only by Tuesday.
Poaching attempt
Meanwhile, high drama was witnessed outside the building, with leaders owing allegiance to both the sides trying to influence the corporators. Alliance leaders were goading the candidates to get inside for voting, while the YSRCP camp stood guard at the entrance.
Tirupati MP M. Gurumoorthy, MLC Cipai Subramanyam and city Mayor R. Sireesha Yadav, all belonging to the YSRCP, stood right in front of the building to prevent poaching.
Meanwhile, district Collector S. Venkateswar announced to fortify the venue with additional deployment of 250 policemen, adding that Section 144 will continue till the completion of the process. Mr. Bansal appealed to the corporators and ex-officio members to attend the special meeting by 11 a.m. at the same venue on Tuesday.
Published – February 03, 2025 08:42 pm IST
