Amaravati, Nov 3 — The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Andhra Pradesh has made a clean sweep of municipal elections, capturing power in almost all Urban Local Bodies.
The results and counting trends on Tuesday night show that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its allies, the Jana Sena Party (JSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have bagged the posts of mayors in seven municipal corporations.
The mayoral candidates of NDA partners were leading in five corporations. The opposition YSR Congress Party was leading in one corporation.
TDP and its allies also bagged the posts of chairpersons of 73 municipalities and nagar panchayats and were ahead in eight places. YSRCP won the post of chairperson in a municipality, while others were elected in two places. YSRCP candidates were leading in two municipalities.
The coalition had also bagged the majority of the posts of corporators and councillors.
The counting of votes polled on Sunday in 92 urban local bodies (ULBs) began at 138 counting centres at 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
Polling was held on Sunday in 13 municipal corporations and 79 of the 87 municipalities and nagar panchayats.
According to the State Election Commission, 62.16 per cent polling was recorded. Out of 96,89,061 voters, 60,22,411 cast their votes.
Mukka Sravani of TDP has been elected Mayor of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, the biggest municipal corporation in the state.
M. Srinivas Prasad of TDP has been elected mayor of Tirupati Municipal Corporation.
K. Lakshmi Aparna, also of TDP, has been elected mayor of Guntur.
TDP’s K. Hemalatha emerged victorious in the election for mayor in Chittoor Municipal Corporation. Sheikh Abdullah Abida of TDP was declared elected as mayor of Machilipatnam.
TDP candidate Vijaya Pratyusha has been elected mayor of Kurnool.
Jana Sena candidate Reddy Appalanaidu has been elected mayor of Eluru Municipal Corporation in West Godavari district.
Elections for the posts of chairpersons of 17 municipalities and nagar panchayats were unanimous. Both chairpersons and ward members were elected unopposed in eight municipalities and nagar panchayats.
As part of the seat-sharing agreement among NDA partners, TDP contested for the mayor posts in 10 Municipal Corporations, leaving two for JSP and one for BJP.
Out of 70 posts of chairpersons for which polling was held, TDP fielded 49 candidates, JSP 17 and BJP four.
Reacting to the results of municipal elections, TDP Working President Nara Lokesh said that the verdict is a mandate to serve, not to celebrate.
“We accept it with humility as the people's blessing for the good governance of the last two and a half years. Congratulations to all the victorious TDP, Jana Sena and BJP candidates, and thank you to our three parties' leaders and workers for their collective effort. Now that the municipal elections are over, our only focus is service, for every citizen, beyond party lines. There is no room for arrogance. Keeping the trust people have placed in us is our real responsibility, and we will work harder than ever to deliver on their aspirations,” he posted on X.
YSRCP president and former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy accused the coalition of resorting to rigging at every stage of the municipal polls. He also accused the police and the State Election Commission of complicity with the coalition.