The by-election to the Athmakuru Assembly seat in Nellore district is scheduled to be held on June 23. It is clear that the by-election is all set to be one-sided with the ruling YSR Congress winning the seat without much difficulty.

The by-election was necessitated by the sudden death of sitting MLA and minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy in February this year. The ruling YSR Congress has honoured the decision of the Mekapati family which selected Goutham Reddy’s brother Vikram Reddy to contest the election.

The TDP is likely to keep away from the contest and the ruling party has nominated the family member of the deceased MLA. It was an unwritten agreement among the political parties in Andhra Pradesh not to contest the by-election if the ticket is given to the family members of the deceased legislator.

The BJP too is yet to take a call on contesting the seat. The Jana Sena is in alliance with the BJP and may not join the contest here. The Jana Sena did not support the BJP’s candidate in Badvel by-election last year. The party might follow the same strategy in Athmakuru Assembly seat too.

Though there are two candidates from the two registered parties, it is not known yet whether they would continue in the fray or withdraw the nominations once the major political parties make their stand clear.

However, sources say that chief minister and the ruling party chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is in favour of a contest here. The YSR Congress had completed three years in office by May 30 and Jagan Mohan Reddy wants to test the peoples’ pulse with this by-election. The chief minister is said to be in favour of the contest to know his party’s position among the voters after three years.

It is to be seen if there would be a contest with the TDP or the BJP fielding their candidates or leave it either a unanimous election or a simple contest with a couple of the candidates in the race.