- Conducted in 4 phases from Feb 4th to 19th
- 2.77 crore voted
- 80% polling witnessed, results declared
Amravati: Andhra Pradesh completed four phases of Panchayat elections on Feb 19th and results were announced completely. Elections took a dramatic turn with a clash between SEC and AP govt on election dates and ultimately went on smoothly after AP High Court intervened and gave green signal to go ahead with the polls. Ruling party, YSRCP, which objected poll due to COVID pandemic and as vaccination process was going on in State, later said ‘YES’ for polls. Now the results are out and here are what the results say for all parties.
YSRCP: Panchayat elections are very important for ruling party as results reflect the two years of its governance and the resultant public mood. The trends clearly indicate that the people are with YSRCP which got a clear mandate of 78.1% of total panchayats. This shows the positive trend on YSRCP across all districts in Andhra Pradesh, which even went on to dominate the opposition party ,TDP’s president’s assembly constituency, Kuppam. The results overwhelmed YSRCP cadre who came with fireworks late night in Vizag, Tadepalli, Vijayawada, and Nellore. The mandate is safe for CM Jagan Mohan Reddy for another term as per trends. Now the party is mainly focussing on corporation elections which are due in March.
Also Read: Vizag Steel Plant: will Centre accept Jagan’s proposal?
TDP: Much damage witnessed than in previous assembly elections held in 2019. Lapses on the part of the party leadership are clearly visible in these elections and voters also moved towards ruling party rather than keeping faith on TDP even in the areas dominated by the opposition party. TDP clearly failed in grabbing anti incumbency sentiment against the ruling party. Even ruling party showed clear majority in Krishna, Guntur districts over its rival TDP. Chance of fighting on Amaravati as capital is lost by TDP as ruling party says, the Panchayat election results are a mandate for 3 capitals. Party future is in dilemma after total failure in the Panchayat elections which is a worrying factor for party cadre.
Jana Sena: One opposition party which has got a little hope is Jana Sena. It fared extremely better than expected in these elections. For the first time, Kapu community got united in many districts such as East, West Godavaris and in Guntur districts. The winning streak of party is mainly due to this as per political analysts. Party vote share has increased from Phase 1 to Phase 4 with 22%, which is a positive factor for party’s growth in coming days as per party leaders. Rapaka constituency where the lone sitting MLA of Jana Sena is ready to jump into YSRCP faced jolt from Jana Sena cadre. In Rajole, people gave full majority to Jana Sena thus proving it is a strong hold for the party. Even in Kadapa district, Jana Sena made inroads.
BJP: This is another party which could not prove anything in panchayat elections. The only factor which helped the party a little bit is alliance with Jana Sena. Party lost its ground and faith in the state. Survey reports showed that there is an increase in vote share for the party, but we should remember it is all due to Jana Sena, but not of saffron surge.
Also Read: TDP: Will it be wiped out or bounce back in AP?
Decline in vote share for YSRCP and TDP
There is a drastic decline in vote share of major parties YSRCP and TDP when compared to 2019 assembly elections. We can see a 4% shift away from the YSRCP and 7% loss for TDP, both losing when compared to assembly elections. The votes lost by the YSRCP and TDP has been transferred to BJP -Jana Sena alliance, which is emerging as an alternative to the ruling party in AP. Whether this trend would continue up to assembly elections, depends upon Jana Sena President. Right now, Jagan Mohan Reddy has no threat from voters and he can sit on his chair comfortably and can go ahead with his schemes.
