TDP President and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu hailed it as a victory for democracy in villages of Andhra Pradesh as a higher voting percentage of 81.67 percent was recorded in the second phase of the panchayat polls, as against the 81.66 percent recorded in the first phase.
Naidu asserted that rural people have fought back against the flagrant poll violations of the ruling YCP and thereby shown their unfailing trust in the right to self-rule for the local bodies. 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 goons and criminals, he said.
Addressing a press conference, the TDP chief said that in the just-concluded second phase counting, his party has won 1,033 out of the total 2,778 panchayats, which came to 37.67 percent. Others have won 65 panchayats, which came to 2.37 percent. Overall, the TDP-supported candidates won 1,098 seats that came to 39.52 percent. The TDP would have shown a far better performance if the YCP and the official machinery did not commit poll irregularities, he stated.
Naidu also said that the credit for creating public faith in democracy would go to only the TDP as the ruling party’s ministers, MPs and MLAs were rejected in their own native villages on a large scale. The YCP candidate lost the election with 271 votes margin in a minister’s own ancestral village, he stated as an example. “In MP Pilli Subhashchandra Bose’s village, the ruling party lost the panchayat by 206 votes. One MP’s village gave the result unanimously against the ruling YCP. Minister Gautham Reddy’s village, Marripadu, saw the YCP losing with 100 votes.”
The TDP chief said that the YCP leaders in collusion with the counting officials and the police were committing the murder of democracy by adopting a new modus operandi. “They deliberately delayed the counting for sarpanch votes, counting at Polukonda till midnight. Then, they sent out the TDP candidate’s agent by force and manipulated the result. Though the TDP won the seat, the counting officials declared it won by the YCP. The erring officials would be dragged to the court,” he said.
Naidu also criticised the counting officials and the YCP leaders for ‘committing irregularities’ in the name of recounting wherever the TDP candidates won. “They were deliberately invalidating the TDP votes in the name of wrong symbols in order to announce the YCP candidates as the winners by slender majorities. The SEC has ordered the 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,” said Naidu.
Stating that the YCP rowdyism continued despite the SEC steps, the TDP chief said that the ruling party could win 108 panchayats unanimously in the Piler segment only by resorting to unchecked violations. “The YCP 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,” he alleged.
The TDP chief also 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 of Andhra Pradesh.
“The court has clearly said that the SEC has extensive powers to ensure a transparent poll but the Election Commission was still keeping silent on many violations. There was no transparency in the verification of the nomination papers and enclosures in which the TDP candidates’ nominations were wrongly rejected,” he said.