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Andhra local body polls announced, to test Jagan’s popularity on ground
The state election commissioner said with the announcement of schedule, the model code of conduct had come into force with immediate effect
It is again election time in Andhra Pradesh after a gap of nearly 11 months, with the state election commission on Saturday announcing the schedule for polls to rural and urban local bodies in the state.
State election commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar said elections to the local bodies would be held in three phases and the results for each phase will be declared separately.
In the first phase, elections to Mandal Parishad (Block Parishad) Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs) would be held on March 21 and the results would be declared on March 24.
In the second phase, municipal elections would be held on March 23 and the results would be declared on March 27. In the third phase, elections to gram panchayats would be held on March 27 and March 29 and the results would be declared on the same day.
The notification for the MPTC and ZPTC elections would be issued on March 9 and nominations would be received till March 21. Notification for gram panchayat elections would be issued on March 17 and nominations would be received till March 19.
In all, elections would be held for 669 ZPTCs and 9,639 MPTCS in 676 mandals (blocks) spread over 13 districts of the state. Similarly, as many as 74 municipalities would go to the polls in the state.
The state election commissioner said with the announcement of schedule, the model code of conduct had come into force with immediate effect. “All the schemes that can influence the voter’s minds would be halted,” he said.
The announcement heated up the political atmosphere in the state. The ruling YSR Congress party, which came to power in April 2019 by winning 151 out of 175 assembly seats, is keen on consolidating this mandate by winning maximum number of seats in the local bodies.
YSRC president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy told the ministers at the cabinet meeting held early this week that the party should win more than 90 per cent of the seats in the local body elections. He warned that the ministers would be held responsible for the defeat in any part of the state.
The YSRC is riding on a slew of welfare schemes launched by Jagan in the last 10 months. The party is confident that formation of village secretariats, creation of jobs for more than three lakh village volunteers and village secretaries, enhancement of pensions to the old, women and the disabled, direct cash distribution scheme for farmers in the name of YSR Rythu Bharosa and for women in the name of Amma Vodi and proposed distribution of 24 lakh house sites etc. would fetch tremendous mileage in the local body elections.
“We are going to the people to seek their mandate based on our government’s performance in the last 10 months. We are happy that our government has been able to fulfill majority of the promises made in the election manifesto before the assembly polls and we are confident that the people will bless us for good performance,” senior YSRC leader and advisor to the government on public affairs Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said.
On the other hand, the opposition Telugu Desam Party is of the view that the people were frustrated with Jagan government’s last 10 months.
“The Jagan government has bungled on various fronts – right from Amaravati to flight of investments from the state to the growing unemployment and the failure of law and order,” TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Saturday.
He alleged that for the first time, the reservations for the marginalised communities in the local bodies had come down from 64 per cent to 50 per cent due to weak arguments put forth by the Jagan government in the high court.
“The ruling party has no love lost for the OBCs, as was evident from the way it refused to challenge the high court order in the Supreme Court on reservations in the local bodies,” he criticised.
