TDP-led alliance sweeps Andhra civic polls, wins Jagan's Pulivendula by 13,898 votes; YSRCP leads in one body

In postal ballots, which were counted first, the Telugu Desam led in nearly all of the municipalities, while the YSRCP led in Uyyuru and Pedana and the Jana Sena in Thiruvur, Madakasira, Amalapuram and Narsapuram.

Pulivendula and the big corporations

The most symbolic result came in Pulivendula, in Kadapa district. The Telugu Desam's T. Geeta Kumari defeated the YSRCP's Y.S. Prameelamma, Jagan's aunt, by 13,898 votes, and the Telugu Desam won 34 of the 40 wards, with the YSRCP on three, the BJP on two and the Jana Sena on one. Across Kadapa district the Telugu Desam took Badvel, Rajampet, Rayachoti and Mydukur, and the BJP was reported to have won Yerraguntla. In the Kadapa corporation the Telugu Desam had won 49 of the 52 wards declared.

In Greater Visakhapatnam, with 67 of 120 wards declared, the Telugu Desam had 41, the Jana Sena 10, the BJP five and the YSRCP 10, and the Telugu Desam's mayoral candidate Mukka Sravani led the YSRCP's Varudu Kalyani by more than 1.19 lakh votes in the early count. In Guntur, the alliance had 27 of 33 declared wards, and in Eluru 30 of 31 with the YSRCP yet to open its account. In Chittoor the alliance had 53 of 56 declared wards, in Anantapur 28 of 41 with the YSRCP on 13, and in Tirupati 32 wards for the alliance and two for the YSRCP. In Vijayawada the Jana Sena's mayoral candidate, Vangaveeti Radhakrishna, led by 113 votes, with an independent second and the YSRCP's former mayor Rayana Bhagyalakshmi third. Counting in Ongole and Chirala was postponed because of Cyclone Murasu.

Corporations and mayors

Of the 13 municipal corporations, the alliance had won or controlled Kadapa, Chittoor, Nellore, Tirupati and Eluru by evening, and was leading in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Kurnool, Anantapur, Ongole, Vizianagaram and Machilipatnam. In Nellore the Telugu Desam had 30 wards, the BJP five and the Jana Sena two, and in Tirupati the Telugu Desam had 27 wards and the Jana Sena 16. In Chittoor the Telugu Desam had 50 wards, and in Kadapa 49. A corporation needs a majority of its wards, such as 61 in Visakhapatnam, 44 in Vijayawada and 39 in Guntur, to choose its mayor, and 30 of the 100 mayor and chairperson posts had been declared by evening, with the Telugu Desam on 22, the Jana Sena on six, and the YSRCP and the BJP on one each. The YSRCP's was Nandikotkur, where Shaik Fathima Bee was elected chairperson, and the BJP's was Yerraguntla, where Gorla Madhulatha was.

The YSRCP's best result was in Nandikotkur, where YSRCP leader Byrreddy Siddharth Reddy's party won a majority of wards even though the alliance rules the state. In Dharmavaram, the YSRCP's candidate beat the BJP's in ward one by a single vote, and the BJP candidate has challenged the result and sought a recount. In Nellore the YSRCP's mayoral candidate, Anam Vijay Kumar Reddy, lost in his own division. There were rebel wins too: two Jana Sena aspirants who were denied tickets won as independents in Atmakur.

The polls were the first urban local body elections in the state since March 2021, when the YSRCP, then in power, won 2,556 wards against the Telugu Desam's 429. This time the alliance had already won hundreds of seats without a contest before polling began, with one report counting 726 unopposed wins, and the YSRCP alleged that its candidates were not allowed to file nominations and went to the Supreme Court.

Voting on 1 November recorded a turnout of 60.96% in 92 bodies, and the State Election Commission ordered repolling at 13 stations in seven bodies on 2 November after complaints of rigging and booth capturing. Jagan refused to vote in Pulivendula, saying that voting would suggest the process was fair, sat in protest with about 70 party agents and said that the party's agents had been kept out of 70 of the 80 polling stations there. He said the party would pursue legal means and approach the Supreme Court. The police said he was free to vote but would not be allowed to move around the town afterwards.

The reports reviewed carry no reaction to the results from Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu or from the Jana Sena and BJP leaders, and no official YSRCP statement on the count. The final tally, the mayors and chairpersons elected in the next round, and the outcome of the court challenge the YSRCP has promised will decide how decisive the win is.