With the completion of the fourth phase of panchayat polls in Andhra Pradesh, political parties have resumed doling out their own victory statistics about the candidates aligned to them. Panchayat elections are not party-based though the candidates are often supported by political parties. Locally available symbols are allotted to the candidates by the Election Commission. However, this also gives room for parties to own the winning candidates.
Out of the 3,299 panchayats notified, the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) said polls occurred in 2,743 panchayats and claimed that 2,513 panchayats were won by the candidates aligned to the party. According to YSRCP's count, principal opposition, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) aligned candidates were restricted to only 488 panchayat victories.
The ruling party leaders also claimed that the YSRCP supporters managed to win 534 of the 554 unanimous panchayats in the fourth phase and asserted that the TDP won only nine panchayats.
Meanwhile, TDP claimed that it won 1,105 panchayats in the fourth phase while the ruling party won only 1,460.
"It has been proved that only TDP strengthened candidates have been honoured by the people in the elections. This is an example to show that people are loathing Jagan Reddy's reign," said a TDP leader.
As per TDP's calculations, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its local ally Janasena won 42 panchayats.
Attributing the overwhelming victory in Panchayat polls to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's good governance, YSRCP has said the party-backed candidates had won 80.51 percent of seats and confined opposition TDP to just 16.05 percent.
Speaking to the media, Minister for Panchayat Raj Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy said that YSRCP supported candidates had swept all four phases of the polls which is an indicator to the swell in support base of the Party while Opposition TDP has further slipped into ignominy.
Meanwhile, at a separate press conference, Minister for Water Resources, P Anil Kumar Yadav said that TDP would have confined to single-digit seats, if there were no YSRCP rebel candidates. He flayed Chandrababu Naidu on celebrating winning only 16 percent seats and said that Naidu will celebrate even booth level victory in 2024 polls. The Minister dared Chandrababu to step down and prove his statement of winning 41 percent seats in the just-concluded gram panchayat polls.
TDP National President and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday termed the result as the 'people's victory' in the just-concluded panchayat elections.
Addressing a press conference, the TDP chief asserted that the TDP supported candidates won 41.7 percent vote share in the 4th phase panchayat polls. The TDP claimed that the TDP by itself won 1,105 out of the total 2,748 panchayats and 31 more TDP allies also emerged victorious. Altogether, according to the TDP, the party and its allies won 1,136 seats. The TDP also claimed that they would have got 10 percent more vote share if the ruling YCP leaders were prevented from committing irregularities.
(With IANS inputs)