Telugu Desam, YSRC slug it out to maintain Panchayati Raj election mandate
Hyderabad: The YSR Congress has done better with rural voters in elections to the Panchayat Raj (PR) institutions of Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies and the Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies in Seemandhra than it did in the municipal elections. The YSRC and the Telugu Desam are almost neck-and neck as the election results come in.
Though the TD has a slight edge overall in Seemandhra, the YSRC is ahead in Kurnool, Kadapa, Nellore and Prakasham districts. The YSRC bagged the ZPTC chairperson’s post in Prakasam district by winning the majority of seats, and is also leading in ZPTCs in several districts.
The worst results for the YSRC have come from East and West Godavari districts. The YSRC got a drubbing in the municipal polls in these two districts, and has suffered heavy losses in the MPTC and ZPTC elections too.
(Read: TRS, Congress in a neck to neck race to win local body elections)
Meanwhile, The Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy camp is now worried about the results of the Assembly polls in Godavari districts, which have 34 Assembly seats, and which will be the deciding factor. The party was not expecting much from West Godavari district, but it was expecting a majority in East Godavari. The municipal and local poll results in the two Godavari districts have dampened the spirits of YSRC leaders.
The party lacked a cadre at ground level here. The party’s Assembly and Lok Sabha conveners did not focus as much on the local polls as they did on the Assembly and parliamentary elections.
In North Andhra, the YSRC did well in Vizianagaram districts and also gave a good fight in Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam, though it was trailing.
A YSRC leader said, “We will be winning Kurnool, Kadapa, Nellore, and Krishna ZPTCs too. Though we did not fare well in MPTCs in Anantapur, we are giving a good fight to the TD in ZPTCs in the district. In Guntur and Visakhapatnam we have chances.”
At around 9 pm, the YSRC had won 2,708 MPTCs and the TD 3,369. The YSRC also did well in TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu’s home district of Chittoor.
