E-Paper
Clashes between YSRCP, TDP mar Kuppam municipal polls
The Kuppam municipality, home turf of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former Andhra chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is strongly contested by the YS Jagan Mohan Redd-led YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) to continue their domination in elections across the state.
The Kuppam municipal election in Andhra Pradesh witnessed more than 70 per cent turnout on Monday even as sporadic clashes broke out between the ruling YSRCP and TDP. The results will be declared on Wednesday.
The polling percentage is expected to go up to 80 per cent with the state election commission declaring that all those who were still in the queue by the closing hours at 5 pm would be allowed to cast their vote.
The Kuppam municipality, home turf of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former Andhra chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is strongly contested by the YS Jagan Mohan Redd-led YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) to continue their domination in elections across the state.
On Monday, the TDP alleged that the YSRCP had indulged in largescale rigging and impersonation in the Kuppam municipal elections. “The YSRCP leaders and cadre, at the behest of chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, committed midnight murder of democracy with the support of the authorities and misuse of police forces,” Naidu said at a press conference in the afternoon.
He said the people of Kuppam put up strong resistance by coming out in large numbers to oppose the election excesses of the YSRCP leaders. “They caught hundreds of bogus voters and handed them over to the authorities. It was a black spot to democracy that the police did not act against bogus voters but resorted to lathi-charge on the people who came to stop impersonators,” he said.
Naidu criticised the police for arresting TDP polling agents in several polling stations. “The police remained mute spectators when the YSRCP activists were blatantly bringing impersonators to the polling stations and arrested the TDP cadre who exposed them,” he alleged.
Senior YSRCP leader and advisor to the state government on public affairs, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, described the allegations made by the TDP president as baseless. “Unlike in the past, our government has given a free hand to the IAS and IPS officers to discharge their duty. Naidu should stop making statements that demoralised the bureaucrats,” he said.
Stating that it was time for Naidu to relinquish politics as he was not able to tolerate new-age politics, Reddy said the TDP chief was only trying to find excuses for his impending defeat in Kuppam. “The people have already given their mandate in favour of Jagan Mohan Reddy. If Naidu can’t realise this fact, it only reflects his defeatist mentality,” the YSRCP leader said.
The YSRCP has heavily campaigned for the Kuppam municipal elections, as it has been the personal fiefdom of Naidu, who has been representing the constituency for the last seven terms since 1989.
Though Naidu won the Kuppam assembly seat in the 2019 assembly polls, his party has been losing all the local body elections in his constituency since then. The TDP could win only three out of 65 Mandal Parishad (block Parishad) territorial constituencies (MPTCs) and lost all the four Zilla Parishad territorial constituencies (ZPTCs) to the ruling YSR Congress party in the elections held in April, results of which were declared on September 19.
In the gram panchayat elections held in February this year, too, YSRC had won 75 out of 89 gram panchayats and the TDP had to remain content with just 14 gram panchayats.
A defeat in the Kuppam municipal elections would be a major morale blow to Naidu ahead of the assembly elections scheduled in 2024.
