Tadepalli (Andhra Pradesh), Nov 11 — Former Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday alleged that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu rigged local body elections to conceal growing public support for the YSRCP.
He said Chandrababu resorted to undemocratic practices because the growing public support for YSRCP would have exposed his government's declining popularity.
He met party leaders from several districts and reviewed the conduct of the recent local body elections. He appreciated the party cadre for fighting with determination despite widespread irregularities, intimidation and manipulation throughout the electoral process.
Jagan said the people had witnessed Chandrababu Naidu’s electoral malpractices and understood the extent of his misuse of power. Despite irregularities at every stage, from the announcement of the election schedule to vote counting, YSRCP’s vote share increased compared to the 2024 elections. Had the elections been conducted freely and fairly, the party would have secured a significantly higher vote share, he said.
The YSRCP chief said Chandrababu had introduced new methods of electoral manipulation and even overturned results in places where YSRCP had secured victories. Chandrababu was now attempting to justify these irregularities by spreading false narratives about local body elections conducted during the YSRCP government. After committing such widespread electoral abuses, his attempts to lecture others on democracy were astonishing, said the former Chief Minister.
Party leaders told Jagan that they had never witnessed such electoral irregularities in their political careers. They said the State Election Commission had completely failed in its responsibility to conduct free and fair elections.
They explained that bouncers were deployed at counting centres in place of authorised agents, while relatives of candidates were kidnapped to force withdrawal of nominations. During counting, large numbers of YSRCP votes were rejected as invalid, and power supplies were deliberately switched off at counting centres to manipulate results.
The leaders said repeated recounts were conducted wherever YSRCP candidates had won, with vote tallies manipulated to reverse their victories. However, recount requests made by YSRCP were denied. Additional ballot papers were supplied to benefit ruling-party candidates and secure their victories.
They further stated that Chandrababu's orchestrated attacks during the elections had left victims in villages across Andhra Pradesh, exposing the scale of violence and intimidation used to influence the electoral outcome.