TDP wins bypolls on Jagan’s hometurf amid skirmishes with YSRCP

The ruling TDP won the ZPTC bypolls in Pulivendula and Vontimitta, the home turf of YSRCP President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, amidst skirmishes between the two parties and allegations of electoral malpractices.

While the TDP claimed that this was the outcome of a truly democratic election process for the first time in three decades, the YSRCP accused Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Nara Lokesh of hijacking the polls with the help of the police.

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Mareddy Latha Reddy of TDP won the Pulivendula ZPTC seat with 6735 votes, while the YSRCP’s candidate Hemanth Reddy could manage to secure only 683 votes. In Vontimitta TDP candidate Muddu Krishna Reddy Addaleru got a landslide victory by more than 6,200 votes.

TDP leader and state HRD minister Nara Lokesh said the TDP won the two ZPTC bypolls because, for the first time, people could exercise their franchise in the elections. He wrote on his ‘X’ handle, “The people of Pulivendula and Ontimitta have chosen progress over backwardness. For the first time in 30 years, Pulivendula has taken part in a truly democratic election process and the people have had the chance to cast their votes freely. Congratulations to Latha Reddy and Krishna Reddy on their well-earned victory.”

The YSRCP’s crushing defeat in Pulivendula ZPTC bypolls was a tit-for-tat strategy by the TDP since YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had done the same in Kuppam, Naidu’s constituency, in 2021 when he was the chief minister, resulting in the TDP losing Kuppam civic body polls after 35 years. The TDP’s win in Pulivendula even led Naidu’s wife, Nara Bhuvaneshwari, to personally congratulate Latha Reddy over the phone for the collective effort, saying, “We are very happy.”

Former YSRCP minister Perni Nani alleged that “the state Election Commission failed to release the CCTV footage and webcasting of the polling process because it would expose the rigging by the coalition government.”

The YSRCP alleged that in Pulivendula, even the candidate Hemanth Reddy was unable to cast his vote. Yesterday, YS Jagan had demanded the cancellation of the election, saying it was atrocious and undemocratic.