Unprecedented victory for YSRCP in Municipal Corporation of Tirupati

Tirupati: YSRCP has made a clean sweep in the election for Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) where it won in 26 Divisions against 27 for which elections were held.

TDP won only one seat while other parties including BJP, CPM, Jana Sena, CPI and Congress drew a blank.

The YSRCP which had already won in 22 Divisions unanimously registered an unprecedented victory in the election to the more than 100-year-old civic boy of the world famous pilgrim city where it won 48 seats against 50 in the corporation.

Election was withheld due to court orders in one Division.

The corporation election proved beyond any doubt that the YSRCP which won in the 2019 Assembly election with a margin of less than 1,000 votes now emerged invincible in the city by decimating the opposition parties. The TDP, main opposition which has a strong base in the city, contested 21 seats and was badly mauled and could win only one seat.

Venkata Keerthi, the granddaughter of former MLA M Suguna and Jyotsana, wife of TDP senior leader, Telugu Yuvatha district secretary Sridhar Varma and Krishna Yadava brother of former TUDA chairman G Narasimha Yadav, lost in the election while former TDP city president Munikrishna is the only one TDP candidate who won among the 21 fielded by TDP for the

corporation indicating the humiliating defeat of the party in the corporation election and dashing all hopes of the party bouncing back after its defeat in 2019 Assembly elections.

While the BJP which contested in 9 failed to win a single seat and same is the case with CPM which fought in 6. The Jana Sena contested in three lost all and CPI and Congress could not even give a fight even in the lone seat they contested.

It is needless to say the result disappoints more the saffron party which is itching to contest the Tirupati Lok Sabha by-election and hoping to win. Except its candidate Anusha in 32 Division, no other gave even a fight in the election while two others Akkipalli Munikrishna Yadav and Narasimhulu managed to get more than 500 votes only while other 5 negligible votes.

The leaders of the opposition party felt that the poor voting of 52 per cent coupled with poll management and pressure tactics of the ruling YSRCP proved fatal for the opposition.

Counting of votes which was taken up this morning was completed by noon declaring the results of all 27 Divisions much to the jubilation of the ruling party leaders and activists who broke out into celebrations with distribution of sweets, bursting crackers, dancing and hugging each other.

City MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, who single handedly steered the party campaign, observed that it is a referendum to the performance of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy rule and a victory for his welfare schemes.

"The result is not surprised me as I predicted 45 plus seats in the corporation election which proved with the party getting 48 seats,'' he said with all smiles.

Buoyed with the success, Bhumana said that his party would win the LS bypoll also and increase the victory margin two lakhs more than in 2019 election.