The Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led alliance has won a sweeping victory in Andhra Pradesh’s urban local body elections, with counting on November 3 confirming a sharp reversal from 2021, when the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) won every municipal corporation in the state. The opposition YSRCP says the results do not reflect the people’s mandate and alleges misuse of official machinery and police interference.
According to The Hans India, cited in November 4 reporting, the alliance won mayoral posts in 12 of the state’s 13 municipal corporations, with the YSRCP holding only Anantapur, its sole corporation win. The alliance also won most of the 87 municipalities and nagar panchayats: The Hans India put the figure at 83, with the YSRCP winning just three — Nandikotkur, Bethamcherla and Naidupeta — though another outlet reported slightly different figures earlier in the count, so the State Election Commission’s final tally remains the authority.
Jana Sena’s perfect strike rate
Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party scored a 100 percent strike rate, winning every seat it contested, according to IANS reporting from Amaravati on November 4. The party bagged mayoral posts in Vijayawada and Eluru, with Vangaveeti Radhakrishna elected Vijayawada mayor by a margin of 1,30,872 votes — securing 2,65,888 votes against YSRCP candidate Rayana Bhagyalakshmi’s 1,35,016. Jana Sena also won the chairperson posts of all 14 municipalities and three nagar panchayats it contested, while the BJP won the chairperson posts of all four municipalities it contested.
The result was particularly stinging for the YSRCP in Pulivendula, the home turf of party chief Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, where the alliance won the municipality and seven other local bodies in Kadapa district, according to ETV Bharat. In Anantapur, the picture was more complicated: the alliance won 37 of 62 divisions, but YSRCP candidate Ramesh Goud won the directly elected mayor’s post by 5,981 votes over his closest BJP rival.
Claims, courts and what comes next
TDP chief Palla Srinivasa Rao thanked voters for what he called a landslide verdict and dedicated the victory to coalition workers, while criticising the YSRCP for what he described as deliberate attempts to distort the process through more than 62 court cases. The YSRCP, for its part, has alleged police interference and misuse of machinery, and the State Election Commission ordered repolling in four wards in Pulivendula, its counsel told the High Court. Elections for deputy mayors and vice-chairpersons are due on November 9, and polls for Zilla Parishad and Mandal Parishad territorial constituencies take place on November 5.
The scale of the reversal is striking: the YSRCP won all 13 corporations in 2021 while in power, then fell to 11 seats in the 2024 Assembly elections while the TDP-led alliance won 164 of 175. The civic results confirm that the 2024 realignment has now extended deep into the state’s towns and cities — subject, as ever, to the commission’s final declared tally.
