Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Wednesday (October 21) directed the Andhra Pradesh state election commission to take a decision regarding the YSR Congress Party’s (YSRCP) plea to extend the nomination deadline for urban local body elections wherever candidates were allegedly prevented from filing nominations due to violence. It also asked the commission to defer its publication of the final list of candidates, which was due today, to October 25.YSRCP moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday (October 20) alleging that violence during the filing of nominations for Andhra Pradesh’s urban local body elections obstructed its candidates from participation. The move came shortly after the Andhra Pradesh high court refused the YSRCP’s plea to extend the deadline for filing nominations.The party had first approached the high court on October 10 to request additional nomination centres. Its plea was dismissed on October 15. The YSRCP moved the high court again after violence was reported at nomination centres.The party’s plea to extend the last date for nominations, however, was rejected by a division bench comprising Justices Ninala Jayasurya and Purushottam Kumar Chintalapudi on October 18. The bench ruled that the nomination period had expired and extending the same would amount to interference in the electoral process.Violence reported at several nomination centres across districtsThe case comes against the backdrop of a violent nomination process for elections to urban local bodies across 28 districts of the state, with supporters of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the main Opposition YSRCP engaging in serious clashes near election offices. Activists from both parties reportedly even snatched nomination papers from rivals hands, hampering the nomination process which ended on October 18.Police opened fire in the air and lobbed tear gas shells at rampaging crowds at a couple of places after uniformed personnel came under attack. A circle inspector and a sub-inspector of police were seriously injured after a follower of YSRCP MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy allegedly drove his SUV at high speed towards a police party in Pulivendula town of Kadapa district on Saturday, October 17.Police firing tear gas shells from an anti-riot vehicle in Pulivendula. Photo: By arrangement.Police booked 562 people in connection with the incident on charges including attempted murder and violence. Avinash Reddy is the cousin of YSRCP president and former chief minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.In fact, the disturbances commenced from day one of nominations on Friday, October 16. The multi-stage local body elections will continue with zila and mandal parishad polls on November 3, followed by gram panchayat elections in three phases on November 26, 29 and December 2.Another YSRCP MP Peddireddy Mithun Reddy whipped up tensions on the same day when his convoy ran into a rally of a TDP candidate heading to submit nomination papers at the election office in Punganuru municipality of Annamaiah district. The police opened fire to quell the crowds.Punganuru, Rayachoti, Dharmavaram and Tirupati, which are all sensitive pockets of the erstwhile Rayalaseema districts notorious for faction fights, bore the brunt of violence this time round.A car torched during clashes between YSRCP and TDP workers. Photo: By arrangement.The supporters of TDP Minister of Transport and Sports Mandipalli Ramprasad Reddy and former YSRCP Rayachoti MLA Srikanth Reddy were involved in the burning of cars belonging rival groups within the constituency. The office of YSRCP was also set on fire in the town. TDP candidates in all 44 wards of the municipality are expected to be elected unopposed.Clashes in Pulivendula, TirupatiSupporters of Avinash Reddy hurled stones at the police while moving through Pulivendula town of Kadapa district in scores of cars. Police fired in the air and opened teargas shells. A YSRCP worker was allegedly stabbed by TDP supporters during an election rally at the time of the incident.Police open firing to disperse the crowds in Pulivendula. Photo: By arrangement.YSRCP MP from Tirupati, Maddilla Gurumurthy, and an MLC S. Subrahmaniam were involved in a clash with TDP rivals during the filing of nominations by the party’s mayoral candidate for the Tirupati municipal corporation.YSRCP candidate Mavitha Laxmi was also alleged attacked by TDP workers who tore her clothes. At the same centre, YSRCP district president Bhoomana Abhinay Reddy allegedly snatched and tore women TDP candidates’ nomination papers while they were waiting to complete formalities. Reports of TDP workers snatching nomination papers from YSR candidates were also reported in Tirupati, Darsi in Prakasam district and some other places.Firefighters extinguishing a car set on fire during clashes. Photo: By arrangement.Polu Veera Reddy, the YSRCP candidate for municipal chairman’s post in Tirupati, was produced before an executive magistrate after he was detained on precautionary grounds during Gurajala nagar panchayat election in Palnadu district.The police seized two sophisticated pistols, 30 rounds of ammunition, axes and other deadly weapons during searches at a lodge in Rayachoti. The lodge was raided by TDP workers following information that anti-social elements hired to attack minister Ramprasad Reddy were holed up there.Jaganmohan Reddy seeks central security forces for pollsAs tensions escalated, Jaganmohan Reddy appealed to the state election commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha to conduct elections with central security forces, saying his party did not trust the state government to ensure free and fair polls. A petition filed by the party in the high court was dismissed by a division bench.Jaganmohan also met governor Abdul Nazeer to complain about the police’s alleged indifference towards ensuring that YSRCP candidates could file their nominations. A total of 25,819 nominations were filed for elections to 13 municipal corporations, 87 municipalities and nagar panchayats, covering nearly 4,000 wards and divisions.The state election commissioner announced that polling in Mydukur municipality in Kadapa district had been countermanded after the nomination papers of a candidate were torn beyond recognition. He also said the second phase of elections to 28 zilla parishads, 659 zilla parishad territorial constituencies and 9,800 mandal parishad territorial constituencies would begin with the filing of nominations on Wednesday, October 21.Nomination papers rejected in several municipalitiesThe nomination papers of YSRCP candidates and others in the fray for chairperson elections were rejected in Rajampet and Proddutur municipalities in Kadapa district and Dachepalli nagar panchayat in Palnadu district on Monday. This enabled the unopposed election of TDP candidates.Police resorted to a lathicharge at Proddutur following a protest by YSRCP workers led by former MLA R. Sivaprasada Reddy.Police resorting to lathicharge to control crowds in Pulivendula. Photo: By arrangement.TDP and YSRCP trade allegationsThe national working president of TDP and information technology minister of Andhra Pradesh, Nara Lokesh, wrote on X on Monday that democracy in the state was alive and thriving, as reflected in the record number of nominations filed for the urban local body elections.“Those who cry foul before a single vote is cast should remember elections are won in the field, not at press meets. Face the people, the people will decide,” he said.A record of over 22,800 nominations have been filed for the urban local body elections across Andhra Pradesh. Candidates from every party, every community and every corner of the state have stepped forward. Democracy in Andhra Pradesh is alive and thriving.Those who cry foul before a single vote is cast should remember: elections are won in the field, not at press meets. Face the people, the people will decide.— Lokesh Nara (@naralokesh) October 19, 2026His remarks appeared to be a response to a media conference by Jaganmohan Reddy, who regretted supporting the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the centre when it modified the process for selecting the chief election commissioner by replacing the Chief Justice of India with a Union minister on the three-member panel.He had also alleged that the state election commissioner was working in collusion with the state government.Police personnel standing near a site that was torched during clashes in Rayachoti. Photo: By arrangement.Speaking to The Wire, YSRCP MLC Rajagolla Ramesh Yadav, who hails from Kadapa district, alleged that the TDP government was using brute force, with the help of the police, to deny the YSRCP a victory in the elections. Sure of losing the polls, Yadav alleged that the TDP cadre were asked by the leadership to snatch nomination papers from the hands of YSR candidates when they went for filing.He also said the YSR candidates were not allowed entry into the premises of returning officers. Those who managed to gain entry were turned away on the grounds that the deadline has passed. He said this was how all the 44 ward members of TDP were elected unopposed in Rayachoti.However, Reddappagari Srinivas Reddy, a former Kadapa district president of the TDP and now a zonal coordinator of the party, told The Wire that YSRCP workers had triggered trouble in the run-up to elections to demonstrate the party’s might in a bid to push the rivals to the backfoot.He said candidates of TDP and its alliance partner, Bharatiya Janata Party, were declared elected unanimously in 63 out of 66 divisions in Kadapa municipal corporation. He added that this showed that YSRCP candidates had given up and that the party’s workers lacked the confidence to take on the TDP.