With the Election Commission of India sounding the poll bugle, the political atmosphere in Andhra Pradesh has reached a feverish pitch, with major political parties – YSR Congress party and the Telugu Desam Party drawing the battle lines for a mega political war.
The schedule for the conduct of elections to the 175-member assembly, apart from 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state, was announced by the ECI on Saturday. The election notification will be issued on April 18, commencing the process of nomination filing.
The last date for filing of nominations is April 25, scrutiny would be done on April 26 and the last date for withdrawal is April 29. The polling will be held on May 13. The counting of votes for the assembly polls will take place on June 4, along with that of general elections across the country, besides elections four other state assemblies.
It is going to be a battle between welfare-oriented Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government on one side and the entire opposition, which is hell-bent on dethroning him from power at any cost, on the other side.
In a way, it is big test for Jagan Mohan Reddy and a test for the people, too. The elections will decide whether they want the welfare schemes to continue or the opposition which is highlighting the lack of development in the state, rising prices, unemployment and mounting debts.
The YSRCP had won 151 out of 175 assembly seats and 22 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 elections, with a vote share of 49.95%. On other hand, 40-year-industry TDP won just 23 assembly seats and 3 Lok Sabha seats with a vote share of just around 39.17%.
The ruling party completely decimated the TDP in the local body elections, capturing more than 90 percent of the rural and urban local bodies. Now, with 2024 elections round the corner, the YSRCP is facing a tough contest from the opposition.
Nevertheless, Jagan is fighting a lone battle like a lion, whereas Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, with the sole objective of defeating Jagan, has joined hands with the Jana Sena Party headed by actor Pawan Kalyan and the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is looking for an opportunistic alliance to find a footing in Andhra Pradesh.
As part of the seat-sharing agreement, the TDP will contest 144 assembly seats and 17 Lok Sabha seats, leaving 21 assembly seats and two LS seats to Jana Sena and 10 assembly and six LS seats to the BJP.
The TDP chief announced the names of 128 candidates and is yet to finalise the candidates for 16 seats. Jana Sena Party finalised the candidates for seven assembly seats and BJP is yet to make any announcement.
As if making the situation more complicated, the Congress high command roped in Jagan’s sister Y S Sharmila to lead the party in Andhra. Though it has little political significance, it can make or mar the chances of the YSRCP or the TDP-BJP-JSP combine by splitting the votes at least to a small extent.
So, get ready for the battle!
