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Andhra civic polls: 60.96% turnout, repolling at 13 stations; Jagan alleges rigging, to move court
Andhra Pradesh's 92 urban bodies voted on 1 November with 60.96% turnout, and the SEC ordered repolling at 13 stations in seven bodies on 2 November. Jagan Mohan Reddy says YSRC agents were kept out of most stations and that repolling in four booths is not enough; he will go to court.
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The urban local bodies of Andhra Pradesh recorded a turnout of 60.96% in the elections held on Sunday, 1 November, when 59,06,255 of 96,89,061 registered voters cast their votes in 92 bodies. The State Election Commission ordered repolling on Monday, 2 November, at 13 polling stations in seven bodies after complaints of rigging and booth capturing, and YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy says the response is inadequate. The elections covered ward members in all the bodies, the mayors of 13 municipal corporations and the chairpersons of 70 municipalities. The counting is reported to be due on 3 November, though the reports reviewed do not carry a confirmed counting date or any results.
Before the vote
The polls are the first urban local body elections in the state since March 2021, when the YSRC, then in power, won 2,556 wards against the Telugu Desam's 429, according to figures cited by an election tracker. This time the Telugu Desam, the Jana Sena and the BJP contested as an alliance, dividing the seats among themselves. Reports say the Telugu Desam planned to contest 89 seats, the Jana Sena 25 and the BJP nine across 123 bodies, and the reports differ on the exact number of bodies in the election.
The contest had been tilted before polling day. The alliance won 726 seats unopposed, according to one report, and another says it had already secured at least 17 urban bodies before voting began. The YSRC alleges that ruling party leaders did not allow its candidates to file nominations, and it moved the Supreme Court over alleged poll violence. More than 25,000 nominations were filed across the state.
The repolling
State Election Commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha ordered the repoll, which ran from 7 am to 5 pm on Monday. The stations were four in Pulivendula municipality and three in Jammalamadugu municipality in Kadapa district, one in the Kadapa Municipal Corporation, two in the Macherla municipality in Palnadu, one each in the Anantapur and Tirupati corporations and one in the Chimakurthy municipality in Prakasam. The Commission declared the poll void at four Pulivendula stations where booth capturing took place and ordered fresh polls for the chairperson and ward member posts there, acting under Article 243A of the Constitution and Section 343(2)(a) of the Andhra Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1965. It said the process at these stations had been compromised and had deprived voters of their right to vote. Turnout at the 13 stations was 23.62% by 11 am, and voters were marked with indelible ink on the left middle finger. In Anantapur, repolling covered station number 3 in division 30 and station number 4 in division 36, and turnout in the corporation on Sunday had been 53.19%.
Jagan's allegations
Jagan said on X that YSRC polling agents were kept out of 70 of 80 polling stations, that Telugu Desam supporters brought from other areas rampaged with the support of election officials and police, and that agents were attacked, voter slips snatched, booths captured and votes rigged. He said video evidence exists and called it a dark day for democracy. He named the corporations of Kadapa, Anantapur, Tirupati, Kurnool, Chittoor, Ongole, Guntur, Nellore, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, and several municipalities. He asked for repolling at all the Pulivendula stations.
He questioned the decision to order repolling in only four booths and asked whether the Commission was ignoring wrongdoing by the ruling side. The reports differ on the number: the Commission's order covers 13 stations, and four is the number where it voided the poll. Police used lathi-charges in Anantapur during the voting, and a YSRC leader demanded a repoll in the divisions where a Telugu Desam MLA and BJP leaders allegedly entered polling stations. Jagan said the YSRC would approach the court to protect the right to vote.
The urban polls are the first test of public opinion in the state's cities and towns since the Telugu Desam-led alliance took power, and they follow a 2021 round in which the YSRC swept the wards. A strong showing for the alliance would extend its dominance from the Assembly to local government, where mayors and chairpersons control civic budgets and urban development schemes. A weaker one, or a result marred by court challenges, would give the YSRC a platform to question the legitimacy of the outcome. The fact that so many seats were won without a contest, with nominations the YSRC says were blocked, means that the party's complaints about the process began before polling day.
The Telugu Desam and the YSRC have accused each other of misconduct, and the reports reviewed do not carry a detailed Telugu Desam response to Jagan's charges. The results of the polls, the court challenge the YSRC has promised, and any further Commission orders on the disputed booths will decide how contested the outcome is. With so many seats won unopposed and 13 stations repolled, the margin of the alliance's win and the YSRC's response are the main things to watch when counting is completed.
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