YSRCP sweeps Andhra Pradesh civic polls

The ruling party bagged eight corporations and was leading in three others and also won 67 out of 70 municipalities.

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh’s ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) on Sunday scored a landslide victory in the urban local body elections by winning almost all the 11 municipal corporations and 70 municipalities.

The ruling party, which captured Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in all the districts, won majority of the divisions.

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Barring a couple of municipalities where main the Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) could give some fight to YSRCP, other Opposition parties — Jana Sena Party (JSP) of actor politician Pawan Kalyan and its ally BJP were wiped out.

The ruling party bagged eight corporations and was leading in three others. It also won 67 out of 70 municipalities. The landslide win for YSRCP came close on the heels of its massive victory in panchayat elections, where it won 80 per cent of seats.

YSRCP led by Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy captured Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Chittoor, Tirupati, Kadapa, Ongole, Anantapur and Kurnool corporations.

In the 98-member Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, the biggest among corporations, YSRCP won 58 divisions while TDP bagged 30 divisions, JSP secured two 3 seats. Others including independents won in seven divisions.

In the 64-member Vijayawada Corporation, YSRCP was racing ahead by winning 27 divisions while TDP bagged 12 divisions.

In the 57-member Guntur Municipal Corporation, the ruling party swept the polls by winning 44 seats. TDP managed to win 9 divisions while JSP bagged 2 and others 2.

All eyes were on Vijayawada and Guntur corporations as the outcome will virtually be seen as a referendum on the contentious state capital issue. TDP sought the votes in these corporations to reject YSRCP government’s move to trifurcate state capital Amaravati.

It was YSRCP wave in all three regions of the state. In 50-member Tirupati corporation, YSRCP won 47 seats while TDP could secure just one. In Anantapur, YSRCP won 48 out of 50 seats. Two divisions went to others. Similarly in Chittoor, YSRCP won 46 out of 50 divisions.

As the results and trends from across the state show a clear sweep by YRSCP, celebrations broke out at the party’s office at Tadepalli in Amaravati. Party workers burst crackers, distributed sweets and danced to the drum beats to celebrate the victory.

The poll officials will be counting a total of 27,29,071 votes in 533 divisions of 11 corporations. Similarly, 21,03,284 votes will be counted in 1,633 wards in 71 municipalities.

Chief Electoral Officer Ramesh Kumar has directed the poll officials to complete the counting process by 8 p.m. He asked the collectors to order re-counting in divisions where the margin of victory is in single digit.

Elections in 71 municipalities and 12 corporations were held on March 10. Counting was not taken up in Eluru corporation and Chilkaluripet municipality due to High Court orders. As the municipal elections were held nearly two years after YSRCP came to power, the ruling party attributed the results to people’s support to its governance.

YSRCP said the massive results in its favour is due to the implementation of welfare schemes by Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy despite corona pandemic.

Apart from implementing welfare schemes, the chief minister also paved way for development of the urban bodies. The Urban community also supported the policies of YSRCP government and blessed with landslide victory, it said.

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YSRCP heading for clean sweep in Andhra civic polls