YSR’s widow declared elected

Hyderabad Dec 6: Widow of former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and the only candidate in the fray for the Pulivendula Assembly constituency, YS Vijayalakshmi Ranilakshmi Jayalakshmi was formally declared elected by the State Election Commission on Saturday.She had filed her nomination for the by-election to Pulivendula assembly seat in Kadapa district which fell vacant after the death of her husband in a helicopter crash Sep 2.The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Praja Rajyam Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist(CPI-M) had not fielded any candidate against her and the Lok Satta Party did not find a suitable candidate, facilitating her unanimous election.

Though Ms Vijayalakshmi was reluctant to contest and YSR's family wanted the ticket for Mr YS Jaganmohan Reddy,they had to abide by the decision of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.The party leadership which has already turned down the demand from YSR loyalists to make Mr YSJaganmohan Reddy the chief minister, told him to continue as the Kadapa MP.Pulivendula is the pocket borough of YSR's family.YSR,who was elected from this constituency six times and also represented the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat, held the record of never losing an election in his political career.