AP Panchayat Elections: 82% voter turnout victory of democracy, says Chandrababu Naidu

Mangalagiri: TDP national president and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday hailed it as a victory for democracy in villages of Andhra Pradesh as a higher voting percentage of 81.67 per cent was recorded in the 2nd phase of panchayat polls as against 81.66 percent in the first phase.

Naidu asserted that the rural people have fought back against the flagrant poll violations of the ruling YSRCP. The voters should display the same enthusiasm in the third and fourth phases in order to save their villages from slipping into the hands of the ruling party goondas and criminals, he said.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, the TDP chief said that in the just-concluded 2nd phase counting, their party has won 1,033 out of the total 2,778 panchayats, which came to 37.67 per cent.

Others have won 65 panchayats, which came to 2.37 per cent. Overall, the TDP supported candidates won 1,098 seats that came to 39.52 per cent. The TDP would have shown far better performance if the YSRCP and the official machinery did not commit poll irregularities.

Naidu asserted that the credit for creating public faith in democracy would go to the TDP only and the ruling party leaders including Ministers, MPs and MLAs were rejected in their own native villages on a large-scale.

The SEC has ordered setting up of CCTV cameras or videography at all the counting centres. But, the District Collectors, Joint Collectors and the returning officers were not strictly following the SEC orders.

Stating that the YSRCP rowdyism continued despite the SEC steps, Naidu said that the ruling party could win 108 panchayats unanimously in the Piler segment only by resorting to unchecked violations.

The YSRCP leaders have realised that they would have no political survival because of the rising unpopularity of their government. This was why they were violating all the laws in order to win the seats by any means whatsoever.

The TDP chief slammed the State Election Commission (SEC) for not using its powers to ensure a free and fair poll as per the orders of the High Court.