VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister and TDP supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu has described the ruling NDA coalition’s performance in the Andhra Pradesh local body elections as a landslide victory. He said that the NDA’s popularity had increased compared with the 2024 general elections.
Addressing a press conference at his Undavalli camp office on Monday, Naidu said the TDP-Jana Sena-BJP coalition secured 58.90 per cent of the votes against 33.56 per cent polled by the YSRCP.
The YSRCP’s vote share had declined by 6.25 percentage points compared with the 2024 elections, while the coalition established a lead of 25.34 percentage points, he said.
The coalition secured 59.9 per cent of the votes in urban areas, recording a 94 per cent strike rate in urban local body elections.
Its strike rate stood at 87.5 per cent in ZPTC elections and over 90 per cent in MPTC polls. Naidu said the local body election results reflect not just the alliance’s victory but also the people’s support for good governance, social justice, new leadership and democratic values.
Explaining the election results, the Chief Minister said the alliance secured 65.7 per cent of postal ballots in urban elections, compared to 27.42 per cent for the YSRCP. In Parishad elections, the alliance received 62.83 per cent of postal ballots, while the YSRCP secured 31.46 per cent.
He said these figures reflected the extent of support extended to the alliance by employees and various sections of society.
The Chief Minister said the alliance won 575 of the 659 ZPTC seats across the state. The alliance secured a lead in 27 of the 28 districts, with the YSRCP winning more ZPTC seats than the alliance only in Alluri Sitarama Raju district. The YSRCP failed to win even a single ZPTC seat in seven districts, including Anakapalli, Konaseema, Kakinada, Markapuram, Palnadu, West Godavari and Visakhapatnam.
In the MPTC elections, the alliance won 7,803 of the 9,818 seats. The alliance is also expected to secure around 90 per cent of Mandal President positions across the state.
The Chief Minister said the alliance demonstrated overwhelming dominance in urban local body elections as well. Out of 100 Mayor and Chairperson positions, the alliance won 94, including 12 of the 13 Mayor positions and 82 of the 87 Chairperson positions.
The Telugu Desam Party secured 70 Mayor and Chairperson positions, Jana Sena 20 and the BJP four. The alliance won 3,233 of the total 3,941 wards, accounting for 82 per cent of the seats.
The alliance secured council majorities in 95 of the 100 urban local bodies and won every ward in 16 urban local bodies. In contrast, the YSRCP won in only four urban local bodies and secured just 558 of the 3,941 wards. It failed to win even a single ward in 22 urban local bodies. The alliance won with a margin of 2,47,817 votes in Visakhapatnam, 1,30,872 votes in Vijayawada and 96,294 votes in Guntur, the Chief Minister said.
In Pulivendula, the alliance secured the Chairperson position with a majority of 13,875 votes, winning 37 of the 40 wards.
In Kadapa Municipal Corporation, the alliance won with a majority of 65,588 votes, securing 64 of the 66 wards.
The Chief Minister said people in Kadapa district had put an end to rowdy politics, adding that all nine urban local bodies in the district had been won by the alliance.
The YSRCP was restricted to just nine of the 345 wards in Kadapa district. He said the results demonstrated that elections conducted democratically and freely would produce such outcomes. Although the alliance did not secure the Mayor position in Anantapur, most of the corporators elected there belonged to the alliance, he added.
The Chief Minister said women, Backward Classes, socially disadvantaged communities and minorities had been given priority in the selection of Mayors and Chairpersons. Of the 70 Mayors and Chairpersons elected from the TDP, 42 are women, accounting for 60 per cent representation.
Women will head eight of the ten Mayor positions secured by the TDP.