The Sampadak Express News Desk
Kadapa is poised to elect its first woman Mayor, with the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) fielding women nominees for the upcoming Kadapa Municipal Corporation election, and the corporator contests largely settled in favour of the ruling alliance by Wednesday’s withdrawal deadline, according to The Hindu.
The mayoral race pits the Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) N. Suvarna against the YSRCP’s Bandi Deepthi. Suvarna filed her nomination and later arrived with party MLAs R. Madhavi Reddy and P. Krishna Chaitanya Reddy, as the campaign focus shifted squarely to the top post.
Of the 66 corporator seats, 63 have already been won unanimously by the ruling alliance, leaving only three divisions to be decided. The effective contest has narrowed to two divisions, with the third set for a “friendly” fight between NDA partners Jana Sena Party (JSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), party leaders said.
As nominations closed and withdrawals ended on Wednesday evening, the one-sided corporator outcome put the spotlight firmly on the mayoral selection, where the NDA’s comfortable majority inside the council is expected to shape the final vote.
Kadapa, one of Andhra Pradesh’s oldest civic bodies, was constituted as a municipality in 1868 and upgraded to a municipal corporation in 2004. The Assembly segment elected its first woman MLA in 2024, when the TDP’s Reddeppagari Madhavi Reddy defeated then Deputy Chief Minister S.B. Amzath Basha. No woman has held the Mayor’s office in Kadapa in the two decades since the corporation’s formation.
Addressing reporters, Madhavi Reddy expressed confidence that the NDA would secure the Mayor’s post. “Even if elected, the opponent candidate will have no support in the house, as a majority of seats have already been won by us unanimously,” she said. She denied any violence during the nomination phase and criticised what she called “meaningless” protests by the YSRCP, asserting that rival candidates had voluntarily withdrawn fearing “imminent defeat.” She also said Suvarna had firm clarity on civic issues.
Campaign discussions have increasingly centred on civic concerns this year as the mayoral contenders seek to outline priorities before the council meets to finalise the leadership of the urban local body.
