2024 AP Assembly elections have become talk of the town with TDP – JSP – BJP forming an alliance, in Telugu, Kutami, against in power YSRCP. Major leaders of the alliance, Nara Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan have made it their single point agenda to bring down CM Jagan from power. Even at a public meeting, Pawan Kalyan challenged about the same in front the public on stage.
No expert, no exit poll and no astrologer could predict the landslide victory for the alliance. People have given a mandate that no one not even the leaders themselves dared to dream. YSRCP has been reduced to 11 Assembly seats from huge 151 seats. On the other hand, TDP has been able to win 135 Assembly seats out of 144 they contested. While alliance of TDP – JSP – BJP won 164 seats in total, creating history and decimating opposition.
Live never before, Pawan Kalyan’s Janasena won every assembly seat they contested. No political party could achieve such historical mandate by winning every seat they have contested. Pawan Kalyan, who lost in both the constituencies he contested in 2019, won at Pithapuram with a huge majority. He would be entering AP Assembly as MLA on ruling side for the first time in his life.
Even Nara Lokesh achieved his dream to win at Mangalagiri constituency, which has never been a TDP seat. He won with third highest majority over 91,000 votes lead over his opposite candidates. Each and every popular candidate from Alliance won with big margins. Conversely, ministers of YSRCP government have lost badly and party got humiliated, to say the least.
Interestingly, Nagari ex-MLA and ex-Cabinet Minister R.K. Roja lost by 45,000 votes margin while she won by 858 votes in 2014 and 2,708 votes in 2019, respectively. Gali Bhanu Prakash, TDP candidate against her secured 107,797 votes, another first for the constituency. No other candidate could secure one lakh votes, in constituency from first election in 1962.
Well, we can say that AP voters have given a never before heard of or seen kind of historical mandate against a ruling party. We have seen such one-sided mandates in Lok Sabha elections previously, but not in Assembly elections. Many thought YSRCP would at least secure 40-50 assembly seats but they did not even qualify for opposition status while BJP gained 8 seats for the first time in state’s history.
