The YS Jaganmohan Reddy- led YSRCP’s victory march that had begun in 2019 polls, by bagging 151 out of 175 Assembly segments and continued in the polls for urban and local bodies, Tirupati Lok Sabha bypoll two years later is near complete on Sunday as the ruling party registered a historic and landslide win in the Parishad Polls while crushing Opposition TDP and the BJP-Jana Sena combine.
While the polls for MPTCs and ZPTCs were held on April 8, results could not be announced as scheduled on April 10 as counting was stayed by the state high court that had heard petitions filed by the leaders of TDP, BJP and Jana Sena. After the nod from a division bench of the state High Court counting of votes took place on Sunday.
While the counting is still going on as per the latest reports the YSRCP has won 4,430 seats out of 4.741 declared seats in MPTCs. Around 248 seats out of the 641 ZPTCs were also bagged by YSRCP.
The resounding victory in the Parishad polls could not have come at any other time for the YSRCP cadre and leaders as they have been facing flak from the opposition TDP and also a section of media over financial crisis being faced by the state and the alleged mishandling of the situation by the Jagan government.
The win is sweeter to YSRCP as Jaganmohan Reddy didn't campaign for any of these polls, didn't conduct a press conference, didn't release any video message seeking votes as he was confident that performance fetched votes, as it did.
For TDP which has been facing humiliation since 2019 polls had once again these Parishad polls rendered embarrassment as the YSRCP won more than majority of the ZPTCs and MPTCs that come under TDP supremo and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s home constituency Kuppam in Chittoor district.
However on paper and for the record TDP announced it had boycotted the parishad polls a week before the polls were to be held on April 8.
It was for the first time in over 39 years, the TDP had taken a drastic decision to boycott the ZPTC and MPTC elections citing lack of trust in the AP State Election Commission and its unilateral decisions.
The highest tally of MPTCs of YSRCP was 412 in Anantapur and it is followed by 406 in Kurnool, 376 in Chittoor, 304 in Visakhapatnam, 299 in Krishna, 264 in Nellore, 234 in Guntur, 200 in Prakasam, 146 in Vizianagaram, 98 in West Godavari, 90 in Srikakulam, 66 in Kadapa and seven in East Godavari districts.“ The resounding victory in the Parishad polls is a referendum to YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s pro people centric governance. Local bodies have significance and importance in the India governance system as advocated by Mahatma Gandhi. However, hijacking the rights of such local bodies though their tenure was over years ago during previous TDP rule, polls were not held fearing backlash and defeat. It's a farce that TDP was telling it had boycotted these polls. Party had already faced a humiliating defeat in both Panchayat and urban local bodies polls,” said YSRCP MLA Ambati Rambabu.
The process of polls for ZPTCs and MPTCs was set in March 2020 and just days before the election, the then State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh postponed the elections citing Covid-19.
A new notification was issued on April 1, 2021 and elections were held on April 8. On May 21, a Single Judge Bench cancelled the elections, hearing a petition filed by TDP leader Varla Ramaiah that the four-week mandatory period of Model Code of Conduct was not taken into consideration from the date of announcement of election schedule to the conduct of elections on April 8.
However, a division bench of the High Court a few days ago gave the nod for the counting of the votes.
Reacting to the results, TDP State President K. Atchannaidu challenged Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy to cancel the parishad elections and issue a fresh notification to hold the polls in a free and fair manner. “Can the ruling YSRCP leaders face the rising anti-incumbency factor face to face? The Chief Minister has been making a mockery of all constitutional institutions and processes with the elections being no exception,” he added.
Out of the total 660 ZPTCs, elections were conducted for 515 ZPTCs. While 126 ZPTCs were elected unanimously, elections were withheld in eight constituencies. Since March, 2020, 11 candidates for ZPTC elections have died.
Out of 10,047 MPTCs, elections were withheld in 375. In the remaining 9,672 MPTCs, 2,371 were elected unanimously and 81 candidates have died since March, 2020. Therefore, elections were held for 7,220 MPTCs.
Though TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu announced a boycott of the elections, candidates of the party remained in the fray as they could not withdraw the nominations.