Amaravati: The Telugu Desam Party-led alliance has taken seven of Andhra Pradesh's 13 municipal corporations and 75 of its 86 municipalities and nagar panchayats, counting on Wednesday morning showed, redrawing the map of the state's urban bodies that the YSR Congress Party had dominated since 2021.
The alliance was leading in five more corporations and six municipalities as the first full round came in. In 17 municipalities and nagar panchayats, its chairpersons were elected unopposed.
The shift is starkest in Kadapa district, the home turf of former chief minister and YSRCP president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. Of the district's 279 municipal wards, the YSRCP won seven. The ruling alliance took six municipalities there without a contest. In Pulivendula, Reddy's own Assembly constituency, the TDP's chairperson candidate Tugutla Geetha Kumari won by 13,875 votes.
The YSRCP, which won all 13 corporations in 2021 and 86 of 87 municipalities, was set to retain only the Anantapur corporation. It won Nandikotkur municipality and was ahead in Naidupeta and Bethamcherla. Counting for the Chirala corporation was put off to Friday because of heavy rain from cyclone Murasu.
Polling was held on November 1. The TDP fielded 13 mayoral candidates, the Jana Sena Party two and the BJP one, while the YSRCP contested all 13.
TDP state president Palla Srinivasa Rao said the result reflected "the people's faith in the leadership of chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, his deputy Pawan Kalyan and minister Nara Lokesh". Lokesh, in a post on X, said the verdict was "a mandate to serve, not to celebrate".
Jagan Mohan Reddy rejected the outcome. In a post on X, he accused the alliance government, the police and the State Election Commission of manipulating the process at every stage, from nominations and scrutiny to the withdrawal of candidates, polling and counting. "You selected the candidates; the people never elected them! These are no longer elections but selections!" he said, and called for electoral reforms.