TDP sweeps civic polls in Seemandhra, Congress ahead in Telangana

The Congress was able to win just 2 divisions and 51 municipal wards across Seemandhra

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) emerged as a clear winner in Seemandhra while the Congress was ahead of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in Telangana in the municipal elections held on March 30. Counting of votes was held on Monday almost one-and-a-half months after the polling as the authorities deferred the process owing to Assembly and Parliament elections.

The counting of votes of the Zilla Parishad elections, which were held early last month, will take place on Tuesday.

The TDP surpassed the expectations by winning five of the seven municipal corporations and 62 of the 93 municipalities in Seemandhra, a much higher tally compared with its nearest rival YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), which was able to get majorities only in 2 corporations and 25 municipalities in the region, according to preliminary reports. All the numbers quoted in the report are preliminary and based on informal sources.

Contrary to the expected performance of the YSRCP in the just-concluded Assembly and Parliament elections, it fared poorly in the urban local bodies across north coastal Andhra, the trendsetting East and West Godavari districts among other coastal Andhra districts.

In the four Rayalaseema districts, the YSRCP was able to win majority municipal corporations only in Kurnool while the TDP got majority municipalities in Anantapur and Kadapa districts with equal number of municipalities (three each) going in favour of the two parties in Chittoor district.

The Congress, which got almost wiped out in these elections in the light of the state bifurcation, was able to win just 2 divisions and 51 municipal wards across Seemandhra.

In Telangana, however, the Congress led the show by winning 22 out of the 53 municipalities followed by the TRS with 11 and the TDP with six municipalities. Of the three municipal corporations that went to polls in Telangana, the Congress and the TRS won one each while no party was able to win majority divisions in the Nizamabad municipal corporation. The TDP was relegated to the third position while the Majlis (MIM) and the BJP won two municipalities each in the region.

In Seemandhra, the TDP won 153 divisions and over 1,400 municipal wards compared with around 121 divisions and over 900 municipal wards by the YSRCP. The Left parties won 21 followed by others with 126 municipal wards making it almost a straight fight between the TDP and the YSRCP.

The picture that emerged in Telangana was completely different. While the Congress and the TRS were neck-and-neck in the number of divisions they won (48 and 49 respectively) out of the 150 divisions across the three municipal corporations, the independents and others including those won on MIM and BJP tickets outnumbered the tally of the two parties with 53. In municipalities, the Congress won a little more than 500 wards with the TRS and the TDP getting 305 and 156 municipal wards respectively. Interestingly, the independents and others including MIM got as many as 358 wards.

While the winners like the TDP claimed that the outcome of Assembly and Parliament elections in Seemandhra as well as Telangana will follow the same trend thrown by the municipal elections, the TRS and the YSRCP claimed the outcome in the general elections would be largely in their favour.