The Hindu, 17 October, A.D. Rangarajan, updated on the 19th: after nomination day, Saturday, in Pulivendula, the YSRCP and the NDA partners blame each other. It is not a verdict. It is an exchange of words, over batons, gas and six shots in the air. The town is the constituency of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, YSRCP president, a former chief minister of Andhra. The polls are local, municipal. The deadline, the collector told the Times of India, was Sunday, 3 p.m. Who filed, who did not, after Sunday, is not in these pieces.

Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy, a protest with YSRCP cadres: the police meant to scare the activists. Batons, gas, shots in the air. The candidates, he said, came at the hour given by the DIG, the SP, the DSP. Then: come back tomorrow. Why not today, at the promised hour? Hundreds of TDP supporters, up to a point. Ours, chased away. The TDP, he said, with sickles and stones. TOI, the same MP: the DSP had pointed an AK-47 at candidates. Papers snatched, including after they had reached the returning officer. That is his mouth. It is not a record we have seen. He asked the State Election Commission for security and for filings without prejudice.

Mareddy Ravindranath Reddy, “B.Tech” Ravi, the TDP in-charge in Pulivendula, to The Hindu: the YSR family cannot bear that so many are filing, freely, in their citadel. Hence the violence. TOI: a political drama. YS Prameelamma, the YSRCP municipal chairperson nominee, had filed a day earlier without incident, he said. The cadres, on Saturday, had come to wreck, not to file. Reddeppagari Srinivas Reddy, TDP: attacks on TDP workers, Pulivendula, Kadapa, Mydukur. Stones at Kagithalapenta, Gandhi Nagar. Clashes, he said, also in Mydukur and Rayachoti. Accusations. Not convictions.

DIG Koya Praveen, collector Sreedhar Cherukuri, SP Nachiket Vishwanath Shelke, to the press. A heavy crowd, an “auspicious” date, that is why it caught fire. Each candidate, two companions, The Hindu. Processions, stopped. About 500, the SP said, flouted the prohibitory order, Section 163 of the BNSS, and marched on the nomination centre. Reasonable force, then tear gas. TOI, the same SP: three companions and one vehicle, inside municipal limits. Warnings, then batons, gas, shots in the air. The collector: the orders were in force. The crowd, unruly. Personnel attacked, in his telling. 68 nominations for wards, one for the Pulivendula chair. That is Saturday’s tally, not a verdict.

The Hindu, another piece, the same day: six rounds in the air. YSRCP cadres, in large numbers, towards the hall, while the TDP was already inside. The police: wait. The cadres, taking offence, tried to barge in. Close to words, close to blows. Six shots. A “mild” lathi-charge, in The Hindu’s wording. The SP, then to Mydukur, stones between the parties. Former office-holders: S.B. Amzath Basha, deputy chief minister; P. Ravindranath Reddy, district president. House arrest, a precaution. It is not a conviction. Avinash, there too: Naidu and Lokesh are instigating, so that the YSRCP withdraws. The instigation, in his mouth.

The main road from 2017 is not Saturday’s nomination centre. Until a Commission report, what remains is two stories and a use of force. Who started it, who tore the papers, who had sickles: it is not judged here.

Image: Moulalisaheb.g, Main Road, Pulivendula, 14 January 2017, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The town road, not Saturday’s nomination centre.

Sources consulted: YSRCP and TDP blame each other for Pulivendula violence — The Hindu; Pulivendula turns battle zone as violence mars nominations across Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh — The Times of India.