A united front for local body elections in Andhra Pradesh

The elections to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Andhra, likely to be held towards the end of 2026 or in the first half of next year, are set to pose an acid test for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners, as they will have to navigate differences that may arise during the process of seat-sharing.

While petitions are pending before the courts questioning the ongoing ward delimitation process, the bigger challenge before the NDA, and more particularly Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu, is the need to quell dissidence and ensure that the NDA emerges with flying colours in the elections.

There are over 120 urban local bodies spread across the 175 Assembly constituencies in the State, and winning them gives political parties an edge ahead of the Assembly elections. This, however, is not always the case. The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), which swept the ULB elections last time, could not capitalise on its success in the 2024 general elections due to a massive anti-incumbency wave that reduced the party’s strength from 151 Assembly seats in 2019 to just 11 in 2024.

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Proportional sharing

As the number of wards are set to increase in corporations and municipalities, the number of leaders aspiring to contest in the ULB elections will also rise across all parties; there is bound to be competition among the ruling coalition leaders of the TDP, the Jana Sena Party (JSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The JSP, in particular, is likely to seek a larger share of corporator and councillor seats, as well as the posts of Mayors and Chairpersons. It had contested just 21 Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 elections, even though there was a strong demand from party leaders seeking a larger share, considering the prevailing political situation and the bargaining power JSP chief K. Pawan Kalyan wielded at the time. Mr. Kalyan, however, had strongly advocated the need for a united fight against the then incumbent YSRCP government. The JSP went on to record a 100% strike rate.

Therefore, this time around, the party’s leaders and cadre are hopeful that they will receive their rightful share in the local body elections in recognition of the party’s contributions to the coalition’s victory.

The BJP, on the other hand, is keen to expand its grassroots presence in the State and hopes to use representation in local bodies to strengthen its organisational base. Similarly, buoyed by the victory it secured in the elections two years ago, TDP leaders too are hoping to secure the lion’s share of seats, confident that local bodies generally favour the ruling party.

This competition among leaders of the three parties for seats could lead to internal squabbles and even instances of leaders working against the spirit of coalition politics, thereby hurting the alliance’s prospects and inadvertently benefiting the YSRCP. This is where Mr. Naidu’s political acumen will be put to the test, as the arduous task of containing dissidence and rallying the three parties behind a common strategy will rest largely on his shoulders.

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Focus on local issues

Moreover, Mr. Naidu could be wary of the possibility of the YSRCP winning a significant number of corporations, municipalities, or even seats in key local bodies such as the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation. Such victories could energise the party’s cadre and leadership, turning the results into a launch pad for the Assembly elections that are just three years away.

The NDA will have to rely on local issues rather than solely banking on the government’s much-publicised success of the ‘Super Six’ welfare schemes and its claims of development through investments. With local issues such as sanitation, sewerage systems, basic infrastructure and grassroots development expected to play a crucial role, the NDA will have to demonstrate what it has done to improve cities and towns over the past two years vis-à-vis the previous YSRCP regime.

The early completion of elections and the formation of new executive and administrative bodies with elected public representatives at the helm, replacing the current Special Officer governance, would pave the way for a faster and more effective development of the ULBs.

hareesh.p@thehindu.co.in