AP Municipal Elections: TD suffers worst defeat in Naidu's native Chittoor district
TIRUPATI: Telugu Desam party suffered a humiliating defeat in the municipal and corporation elections in Andhra Pradesh, the results of which were declared on Sunday. Giving a major jolt to Telugu Desam chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu, the YSR Congress has stormed again into Naidu’s native Chittoor district and snatched all the two corporations and four municipalities.
The grand success for the ruling party in the Gram Panchayat polls was repeated in the urbal local body polls too, wherein the YSRC again put up an impressive show, so much so the TD failed to grab even a single municipality or corporation. The YSRC won as many as 228 of the 247 wards in all the six civic bodies in the district that went to polls on March 10.
The TD candidates secured 17 wards in five civic bodies. In Punganur municipality, the Opposition has drawn a blank. Other parties including the BJP, the CPIM, the Janasena and the CPI drew a blank. Independent candidates won two wards in Chittoor and Nagari civic bodies.
In the district, there are 248 wards spread over the two corporations – Chittoor (50) and Tirupati (50) -- and four municipalities, namely Madanapalle (35), Punganur (31), Nagari (29), Puttur (27) and Palamaner (26), which went to polls on March 10.
Of the total, elections in 131 wards were declared unanimous and 116 wards went to polls. The SEC stopped the election process in the 7th division of Tirupati corporation. In Punganur, the ruling party won all 31 wards.
As per the official reports, in Tirupati, the YSRC won 48 (of which 22 were unanimous) out of 50 divisions and the same situation prevailed in Chittoor too where the ruling party bagged 46 (of these, 37 were unanimous) out of 50 divisions.
TD candidates were able to win only four divisions – three in Chittoor and one in Tirupati. The YSRC has also clinched the Madanapalle municipality by winning 33 ( of which 15 were unanimous) out of the 35 wards, in which the TD was able to win only two wards.
The TD’s debacle continued in other municipalities like Nagari, Puttur and Palamaner. In Nagari, out of the 29 wards, YSRC candidates won unanimously in six wards and TD won one ward unpposed. Of the 22 wards that went to polls in this municipality, the YSRC had secure 18 wards and the TD won three wards while one ward went to an independent.
In Puttur with 27 wards, the Opposition party performed a little better, by winning 5 wards; while the ruling party won 22 wards, of which one was unanimous. Out of the 26 wards in Palamaner, eight wards went for polling, of which six went to the YSRC and two to the TD. Cumulatively, thus, the YSRC won 24 wards in this municipality.
The municipal election results in Chittoor district dented the hopes of TD chief Chandrababu Naidu to revive the party’s fortunes in his native district. The party’s debacle in both panchayat and municipal elections in this district is a big blow to him. Naidu, thus, will have difficulty keeping his flocks together.
TD dealt major blow in Anantapur too
TD suffered a major jolt in Anantapur district where YSRC won Anantapur Municipal Corporation and nine municipalities. Shockingly, the Telugu Desam, which had ruled AMC, could not win even a single division in the corporation. As against a total of 50 divisions, YSRC won in 48 divisions while independent candidates, who were TD rebels, won the other two.
Internal differences between Prabhakar Chowdary and JC Pavan groups and fielding weak candidates reportedly affected Telugu Desam prospect in all divisions.
In 40th division, locals encouraged TD rebel candidate Sri Lakshmi, who contested as an independent candidate, after she was denied a party ticket.
Similarly, Telugu Desam could not prove its existence in Dharmavaram municipality where YSRC bagged all 40 municipal wards. Paritala Ravi's son Sriram, who was in-charge of Dharmavaram, drew a blank.
Though Telugu Desam had won Anantapur Municipal Corporation and 10 municipalities in the previous elections, YSRC bagged all seats except Tadipathri municipality. Hindupur, Madakasira, Kadiri, Kalyanadurgam, Gooty and Guntakal municipalities were also pocketed by YSRC.
Urban MLA Ananta Venkatrami Reddy said people's verdict was a clear positive sign about Jagan Mohan Reddy administration.
“People realised that unlike Chandrababu Naidu, YSRC was firm on implementing welfare schemes”, he said.
