Nellore: The ruling YSRC proved its upper hand in both SPSR Nellore and Prakasam districts in the first phase of gram panchayat elections held on Wednesday.
In Nellore district, YSR Congress nominees for sarpanch posts bagged 132 out of 162 gram panchayats in the first phase of the election held in Kavali division consisting of Kavali and Udayagiri constituencies of the district.
The Telugu Desam ended up with 26 panchayats, BJP with one, while independents bagged four panchayats.
Among the 132 panchayats secured by the ruling party, there are 17 rebel candidates, sources in the YSR Congress said. In Prakasam district, the YSRC secured 182 panchayats as against 37 by the TD and independents bagged three panchayats in the first phase of elections.
The election was held in 15 mandals including Ongole, Chimakurthy, Inkollu, Karamchedu, Kothapatnam, Parchur, Vetapalem, Yeddanapudi and SN Padu among others.
Speaking about the results to media at Kovur segment on Wednesday, TD district general secretary C. Venkateswar Reddy said the party managed to win seats despite hurdles created by the ruling YSRC.
He expressed confidence in improving the performance in the next three phases of the election. He alleged that the YSRC men ransacked TD office in Kavali out of anger and jealousy.
