Independent candidate A.B. Venkateswara Rao warmly embraces Jana Sena candidate Vangaveeti Radha during the municipal election campaign at Machavaram in Vijayawada on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: G.N. RAO
The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) on Sunday (October 25, 2026) released the final list of candidates in the fray for the posts of ward members and mayor. According to the list, 19 candidates are in the race for the mayoral post, while 349 are contesting for 86 ward member posts in the ongoing Second Ordinary Elections to Urban Local Bodies, 2026.
While 24 candidates filed nominations for the Mayoral post, the duplicates were rejected, bringing the number down to 19. None of the Mayoral candidates withdrew their nominations.
Jana Sena Party, YSRCP, Aam Aadmi Party, Indian Union Muslim League Party, Bharata Chaitanya Yuvajana Party, Navarang Congress Party, Reforms Party of India each have one candidate in the race to the post of Mayor. The remaining 10 are all Independents.
For the ward member posts, totally 970 nominations were filed from October 16 to 18. Out of these, 474 candidates withdrew their nominations and some others were rejected. Most of the withdrawls were seen among TDP candidates (180), followed by Jana Sena Party (121), YSRCP (97) and BJP (43).
Meanwhile, campaigning is going on at a brisk pace in the city. While there is a tight contest between NDA candidate Vangaveeti Radha Krishna and YSRCP candidate Rayana Bhagyalakshmi, the entry of former IPS officer A.B. Venkateswara Rao as an Independent candidate has offered the voters a new alternative.
On Sunday, while Mr. Venkateswara Rao was campaigning near Machavaram, criticising both YSRCP and TDP for corruption, his political vitriol gave way to a brief episode of affection when he met NDA candidate Mr. Vangaveeti Radha Krishna, who was also campaigning in the opposite direction. The two candidates exchanged a warm embrace as onlookers stood by, clicking pictures of them.
Published – October 25, 2026 11:32 pm IST
