NEW DELHI: With the campaigning closed for the elections in Andhra Pradesh, the stage is all set for polling on Monday to elect the 175-member
assembly
and as well as 25 Lok Sabha seats from the state. A neck-to-neck competition is going on between
YSRCP
,
TDP
, and Janasena among others in the Assembly and Lok Sabha poll race.
The YSRCP has entered the electoral fray, vying for all 175 Assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha segments in the state.
Through a seat-sharing arrangement within the NDA coalition, the TDP has been granted 144 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha constituencies, whereas the BJP is set to compete in six Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly seats. The Janasena, on the other hand, will vie for two Lok Sabha and 21 Assembly seats.
The YSRCP
campaign
emphasized the welfare initiatives it enacted over the past five years, while the NDA focused on criticizing the perceived “failures” of the state government and pledged to offer benefits if elected, along with promises of job creation. Notable figures such as PM Modi, along with Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, as well as Congress leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, actively participated in campaigning for their respective party candidates.
Voters will be making the choice between siblings as YS Sharmila Reddy, Congress candidate, is going to contest the election against his brother YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s party YSRCP’s candidate YS Avinash Reddy, who also happens to be their cousin, for the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat.
Meanwhile, in the Assembly polls, the stakes are high for all Andhra parties in Rayalaseema, as both YSRCP supremo Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu hail from this region and are contesting from Pulivendula in Kadapa and Kuppam in Chittoor districts, respectively.
To ensure the smooth conduct of the elections, the Election Commission has mobilized 1.06 lakh security personnel, comprising 3,500 Karnataka police, 4,500 Tamil Nadu police, 1,614 ex-servicemen, 246 retired police personnel, and others. Voting will commence at 7 AM and conclude at 6 PM across the state, with exceptions in a few areas where it will end one or two hours earlier. The total electorate in the southern state stands at 4.14 crore, consisting of 2.02 crore male, 2.1 crore female, 3,421 third gender voters, and 68,185 service electors. As per Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer MK Meena, a total of 454 candidates are contesting for Lok Sabha seats, while 2,387 candidates are in the fray for the Assembly polls.
Lok Sabha constituencies
| PHASE | CONSTITUENCIES | DATE |
| I | Araku, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Kakinada, Amalapuram, Rajahmundry, Narasapuram, Eluru, Machilipatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Narasaraopet, Bapatla, Ongole, Nandyal, Kurnool, Anantapur, Hindupur, Kadapa, Nellore, Tirupati, Rajampet, Chittoor | May 13 |
What happened in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections?
Andhra Pradesh, which was once a key battleground in the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha Elections that helped the Congress to win power, has seen a rise of the regional parties. In 2014 TDP won 15 seats, BJP won 2 and YSRCP collected only 8 seats in Andhra Pradesh but in 2019 election the state witnessed major changes as the dynamics of power changed. In 2019 election, YSRCP won 22 seats while TDP only got 3 seats. The upcoming 2024 elections are poised to be influenced by the entry of the I.N.D.I.A alliance, comprising various regional parties from the state.
2019 Assembly elections result
In the 2019 assembly elections, the YSRCP emerged victorious, securing 151 seats, while the TDP managed to secure only 22 seats. A party needs a majority of 88 seats to form a government in Andhra Pradesh.The 175 Assembly seats together represent a population close to 4.80 crore.
