Amaravati: TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu has wrested power from YSRCP as his party clinched a landslide victory in the Andhra Pradesh assembly polls, with allies BJP and Janasena Party (JNP) in tow. Naidu's latest electoral triumph, where his Telugu Desam Party won 135 of the 175 seats, comes months after his arrest in an alleged corruption case. In the outgoing House, TDP has 23 members. According to the Election Commission data, the ruling YSRCP won 11 seats.
In the initial rounds, YSRCP's Jagan Mohan Reddy was leading in Pulivendula Assembly constituency with 5,175 votes over his TDP rival Ravi. N Chandrababu Naidu was leading in Kuppam assembly segment after one round of counting with 893 votes, over his YSRCP rival KRJ Bharat. In Mangalagiri, TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh was leading with 8,411 votes over his YSRCP rival M Lavanya after two rounds of counting.
Meanwhile, Irrigation Minister and senior YSRCP leader A Rambabu is trailing his TDP rival K Lakshminarayana, who is leading with 2,442 votes after two rounds of counting. Mines Minister and senior YSRCP leader P Ramachandra Reddy is leading with 45 votes in Punganuru over his TDP opponent C Ramachandra Reddy. YSRCP leader and Animal Husbandry Minister S Appala Raju is trailing his TDP rival G Sireesha in Palasa. Sireesha is leading with 4,388 votes after one round of counting.Education Minister and TDP senior leader B Satyanarayana is trailing his TDP rival K Kala Venkata Rao by 601 votes in Cheepurupalle.
In the LS polls, TDP-led NDA is leading in 21 and YSRCP in four Lok Sabha seats out of the total 25 segments. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is leading in Pulivendula by 1,888 votes in Pulivendula assembly constituency over his TDP rival Ravi after the first round. AP BJP chief D Purandeswari is leading by 22,010 votes in Rajamahendravaram Lok Sabha seat over her YSRCP rival G Srinivas. TDP leader Nara Lokesh is ahead of his YSRCP rival M Lavanya by over 4,000 votes in Mangalagiri Assembly seat. Andhra Pradesh went to polls on May 13 for 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats.
According to the Election Commission, the counting is underway at 33 locations across the state in 401 halls, which will have 2,443 EVM tables for Parliamentary constituencies and 2,446 for Assembly constituencies. Similarly, 443 tables have also been arranged for counting postal ballot votes for Parliamentary constituencies and 557 for Assembly seats. As many as 454 candidates contested in the Lok Sabha and 2,387 for the Legislative Assembly elections in the southern state
The EC has deployed 119 observers to supervise the counting process across the state, along with a micro-observer for each counting table. In total, 25,209 staff have been deployed for the counting procedure.
The NDA alliance of TDP, BJP and Janasena, and YSRCP are the major contenders while INDI alliance consisting of Congress, CPI and CPI (M) have also marked their presence in the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls on May 13. The fate of TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, who contested from Kuppam assembly constituency, YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy (Pulivendula) and Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan (Pithapuram) is sealed in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The electoral fortunes of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Y S Sharmila, Andhra Pradesh BJP chief D Purandeswari and TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh will also be determined on Tuesday. Sharmila contested from the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, Purandeswari (Rajamahendravaram Lok Sabha) while Lokesh fought from the Mangalagiri Assembly segment. Tight security arrangements have been put in place for an incident-free election results day in the southern state.
In the 2019 assembly elections, the YSRCP led by Jagan Mohan Reddy won 151 seats; the TDP secured 23; and the Janasena managed to in one. Congress and the BJP did not win any seat. According to the exit poll results, Axis My India predicted 78-96 seats for TDP, 55-77 seats for YSRCP, 16-18 seats for JSP, 4-6 seats for BJP and 0-2 seats for Congress. This takes the overall NDA count to 98-120 seats.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena on Sunday directed District Electoral Officers (DEO) to make necessary arrangements to ensure smooth vote counting on June 4. After the counting of votes, the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) should be sealed and secured while the election result-declaring Form 21 C and Form 21 E should be dispatched to the Election Commission by the next day.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Police department is leaving no stone unturned to ensure a peaceful election results day, especially in the wake of post-poll violence at some places in the southern state. Several districts held mock drills to deal with exigencies in case they arise on June 4. Security has been beefed up at the residences of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and the party office of TDP in Mangalagiri and YSRCP in Tadepalli. Kurnool district superintendent of police G Krishnakanth said in a press release that 2,000 policemen will provide security on the vote counting day while CrPC Section 144 will be clamped down at the Rayalaseema University counting centre.
M Ravi Prakash, who has been appointed as the special officer for Eluru Range to monitor vote counting called on people to go about in a peaceful manner. In Bapatla district, police held a meeting with counting agents on how to conduct themselves and briefed them on the election rules. Similar security measures have been put in place across the state in all the districts for June 4.
Earlier, the Election Commission decided to deploy 20 companies of CAPF in the state to deal with any exigency on the election results day. Meena said that CrPC Section 144 will be imposed for as long as required while DGP Harish Kumar Gupta noted that 'dry days' could last for three days from June 4.
(With PTI inputs)