Incidents involving altercations and political confrontations were reported across several districts of Andhra Pradesh on Friday, coinciding with the opening day of the municipal election nomination period.
Fistfights, vehicle damage, arson at party offices, and objects hurled at opponents marked the early hours of municipal voting across Punganur, Rayachoti, Tirupati, and Dharmavaram — four Rayalaseema towns where supporters of the Telugu Desam Party-led alliance and the YSR Congress Party came into repeated conflict.
A dispute broke out at Basava Raja Junior College in Punganur, Annamayya district, when PV Midhun Reddy — who holds the Rajampet parliamentary seat and leads the YSRCP bench in the Lok Sabha — arrived alongside a contingent of councillor hopefuls to lodge their municipal election nomination papers at the returning officer's office. Members of a TDP faction are reported to have intercepted the convoy, halting its passage and touching off a physical confrontation in which stones and sticks were used.
Property damage from the confrontations extended to multiple vehicles, among them a pair belonging to the MP's convoy, while three people — two local TDP figures and a gunman attached to the MP — sustained injuries. Officers arrived at the location in numbers, bringing the situation under control before accompanying Midhun Reddy on a journey back to his home village of Sodum.
In the wake of the Punganur incident, YSRCP president and former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy telephoned Midhun Reddy to check on his wellbeing, using the call to register his opposition to the attack. Jagan contended that two-and-a-half years of coalition governance had generated broad public discontent, and that the administration was responding by deploying an unresponsive police force to intimidate voters and manipulate electoral processes. The YSRCP leader also called for Central paramilitary forces to be stationed in the region.
According to Annamayya District Superintendent of Police Dheeraj Kunubilli, the MP's convoy fell outside the boundaries set by the State Election Commission for candidate entourages and vehicles. Pointing to footage they described as evidence, coalition leaders placed responsibility for the initial outbreak of violence on Midhun Reddy.
An argument between Transport Minister Mandipalli Ramprasad Reddy and former MLA G Srikanth Reddy drew tension across Rayachoti, with the two exchanging sharp words in a confrontation that unsettled the area. That morning, Srikanth Reddy and Reddeppagari Ramesh Kumar Reddy gathered at the YSRCP's local office for a press conference and internal planning session on municipal nominations, where they put forward allegations that the Transport Minister had pressured candidates and contributed to the town losing its district headquarters status.
At a press conference held in response, Ramprasad Reddy denied the accusations and called on the former MLA to face him in a direct electoral contest. Within minutes, a crowd reported to include TDP affiliates had assembled at the location, with the YSRCP office building and vehicles stationed nearby consumed by fire. Roughly six cars were left completely burned out, while around a dozen more sustained damage — among them two belonging to Srikanth Reddy and one police vehicle. Crews from both the fire and police services tackled the blaze until it was fully contained.
Nomination filing for the Tirupati Municipal Corporation drew altercations and heated exchanges between members of the TDP and YSRCP, with Bhumana Abhinay Reddy and JB Srinivas among those caught up in the confrontations, as broader political tensions in the region carried over into the process. Scattered confrontations were noted at voter registration sites throughout the Kennedy Nagar, Korlagunta, and Biragipatteda areas.
As the evening progressed, a group of YSRCP figures — among them Midhun Reddy, Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, who previously served as a minister, Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, and Tirupati MP M Gurumoorthy — put forward the claim that the coalition had brought in people from Chennai and Karnataka.
On Friday afternoon in Dharmavaram, tension was reported as YSRCP candidate Medapuram Venkatesh arrived to file his nomination papers. Groups backing opposing sides gathered near the venue after the confrontation unfolded. When YSRCP candidates entered the venue, a dispute between those present escalated into projectile attacks with stones, leaving three party members with injuries.
