The ruling YSR Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh secured a landslide victory in the elections held to Zilla Parishad and Mandal Parishad (block parishads), the counting for which was held on Sunday.
The YSRCP won 547 out 553 Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) seats and 7,284 out of 8,063 Mandal Parishads Territorial Constituencies (MPTC), results for which were declared till 7.30 pm.
Counting for the pending 88 ZPTCs and 1,504 MPTCs was underway, when the reports last came in, according to the state election commission.
The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) won only three ZPTCs and 675 MPTCs. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its alliance partner Jana Sena drew a blank in Zilla Parishads, it won 23 and 85 seats in the Mandal Parishad elections, respectively.
State panchayat raj and rural development minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy said the poll outcome proved that chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had gained the trust of the people by fulfilling the election promises. “The results clearly show that the TDP has lost the people’s support,” he added.
In a statement, the party claimed that the ZPTC and MPTC results suggested TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu’s downfall in his own assembly constituency Kuppam in Chittoor district.
{{/usCountry}}In a statement, the party claimed that the ZPTC and MPTC results suggested TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu’s downfall in his own assembly constituency Kuppam in Chittoor district.
{{/usCountry}}“The YSRCP bagged all the four ZPTCs and 62 out of 65 MPTCs in Kuppam. In the gram panchayat elections held in February this year, too, YSRC had won 75 out of 89 gram panchayats,” the statement read.
However, TDP spokesman and former minister S Chandramohan Reddy dismissed YSRCP’s claims that it had achieved a landslide victory in the polls. He reminded the ruling party that the TDP had boycotted the local body elections after its representation against the election irregularities earlier fell on deaf ears.
“It is an open secret that the ruling YSRCP resorted to threats, intimidation and forced unanimous results in many places. They misused the police and the official machinery without any shame,” he said.
In all, there are 660 ZPTC seats and 10,047 MPTC seats in the state, of which as many as 126 ZPTC and 2,371 MPTC seats were elected unanimously in March last year, when the election process to the local bodies commenced.
Polling for the remaining seats, which were initially scheduled for sometime later that month, was put on hold by former state election commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar in view of the nationwide lockdown imposed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The process for the conduct of elections to the remaining seats resumed on April 2 this year, a day after new state election commissioner Neelam Sawhney assumed charge.
Polling for 515 ZPTC seats and 7,219 MPTC seats was held on April 8. In all, 12,955,980 voters exercised their franchise. Voting could not be held for eight ZPTC and 355 MPTC seats due to court cases, while it was withheld in 11 ZPTCs and 81 MPTCs due to the death of the candidates.
Counting of votes for the ZPTC and MPTC elections was supposed to be held on April 10, but was stalled by a single judge bench of the state high court following a petition filed by the TDP and Jana Sena parties.
Later on May 21, the bench ordered cancellation of the ZPTC and MPTC polls on the grounds that the SEC had not followed the mandatory four-week model code of conduct to be in force between the date of announcement of schedule and the conduct of the elections, as per the Supreme Court directions.
The SEC challenged the single-judge bench verdict before a division bench comprising chief justice Arup Kumar Goswami and justice N Jayasurya. The SEC argued that the Supreme Court rule for following four-week model code of conduct cannot be applicable to the local body elections.
It further contended that the four-week rule was not followed for municipal elections and gram panchayat elections held in April this year. For municipal elections, there was a gap of only 22 days and for panchayat elections, it was only 26 days.
After hearing the arguments, the division bench of the high court on September 16 struck down the single-judge’s order and permitted the SEC to go ahead with the counting of votes for the ZPTC and MPTC elections