Congress, CPI finalize seat-sharing deal in AP; left party to contest Guntur LS, 8 assembly seats

Amaravati: INDIA alliance partners, Congress and CPI, have finalized the seat-sharing arrangement for Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh.

Under the agreement, CPI will contest one Lok Sabha and eight assembly seats.

CPI will contest the Guntur Lok Sabha constituency. The party will also contest Vijayawada West, Visakhapatnam West, Anantapur and Pattikonda, Tirupati, Rajampet, Eluru, and Kamalapuram assembly constituencies.

In the constituencies allocated to CPI, there will be tough competition with the opposition parties. There will be a multi-corner fight between YSRCP, NDA, and Congress.

“Congress party will leave one Parliament constituency, namely Guntur to the CPI to contest. Congress party will leave the following eight Assembly constituencies to CPI to contest,” the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) said in a press release.

YS Sharmila Reddy, president, APCC, held a series of consultations with Ramakrishna, secretary, CPI, on the sharing of seats between Indian National Congress and CPI for the upcoming elections to Parliament and Assembly in Andhra Pradesh, it said.

However, the names of the CPI candidates were not revealed.

On April 2, Sharmila announced the names of candidates for five Lok Sabha and 114 Assembly seats from the Congress party.

With the announcement, clarity on INDIA alliance candidates has emerged for six Lok Sabha and 122 Assembly seats in the southern state.

Further details on 19 Lok Sabha and 53 Assembly seats are awaited.

The Communist Party of India (CPI), Congress, and CPI (M) are INDIA alliance partners in Andhra Pradesh.

Elections for the 175-member Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh are scheduled on May 13 and the counting of votes is slated for June 4.