The political parties in Andhra Pradesh have taken the Graduates MLC elections seriously, as the general elections are just 14 months away from now. Unlike in the past, this time all political parties in the state have decided to field their candidates for the graduates constituencies.

Three graduate and two teacher MLC seats are falling vacant by March 29 and the Election Commission has released the schedule for the elections. The polling for these seats, besides the nine local bodies seats, would be held on March 13 and notification would come on February 16.

The ruling YSR Congress had named P Shyamprasad Reddy for the Prakasam-Nellore-Chittoor graduates constituency, while the TDP had named Kancharla Srikanth and the BJP named S Dayakar Reddy.

Similarly, for the Kadapa-Anantapur-Kurnool constituency, the ruling YSR Congress named V Ravindra Reddy, while the TDP named Ramgopal Reddy and the BJP fielded N Raghavendra.

The BJP had nominated the sitting MLC P V N Madhav for the Srikakulam-Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam constituency, while the ruling YSR Congress named S Sudhakar followed by the TDP naming Chiranjeevi Rao.

The teachers and the graduate MLCs were hitherto left to the teachers unions but the 2017 biennial elections saw political parties too fielding their candidates. The TDP-BJP combine nominated PVN Madhav for the Srikakulam-Vizianagaram-Visakhapatnam constituency and won the seat.

This time, the political parties are also planning to enter the election of the teacher constituency elections. Elections for the Chittoor-Nellore-Prakasam constituency and Anantapur-Kurnool-Kadapa constituency are scheduled for March 13 along with the three graduates constituency MLC elections.