In a significant development during the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) Standing Committee elections, the NDA managed to secure nine seats, but lost one to the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), reportedly due to cross-voting.

The results came as a jolt to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which was confident of sweeping all the 10 seats it contested by the NDA alliance.

A total of 20 corporators were in the fray, including 10 from the NDA—nine from TDP and one from BJP—and 10 from the YSRCP. The Jana Sena Party (JSP) opted out of the contest. Of the 97 eligible corporators, 92 cast their votes, while five, including a JSP corporator, remained absent.

Eight TDP corporators who won include Neelima Konathala, D. Venkata Rameshwar Rao, Molli Hemalatha, Senapati Vasantha, Gedela (Bantubilli) Lavanya, Madamchetty Chinnatalli, Raparthi Triveni Varaprasadarao, and Molli Mutyalu, along with BJP corporator G. Kavitha. However, YSRCP’s S. Padma Reddy defeated TDP’s Routhu Srinivas in a close contest. Due to the tight margin, GVMC Commissioner Ketan Garg ordered a recounting in the presence of the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and floor leaders and later announced the results officially.

YSRCP district president K.K. Raju offering sweets to party corporator S. Padma after she won the GVMC committee elections, in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
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Special Arrangement

The announcement of results led to celebrations by the YSRCP corporators, led by party’s Visakhapatnam district president K.K. Raju. The YSRCP activists distributed sweets and raised slogans in support of the party and president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Mr. Raju told the media that GVMC standing committee elections were held in 2020, 2021, and 2023, and the YSRCP had registered clean-sweep victories.

“The results of today’s elections clearly reflect the growing dissatisfaction with the NDA government in the State,” Mr. Raju said, alleging that the ruling party used ‘cheap tactics’. He mentioned the no-confidence motion against a woman Mayor from the BC community.

Despite holding only 33 seats in the GVMC, Mr. Raju said, the YSRCP candidates received between 35 to 38 votes on average, with S. Padma Reddy securing a notable 50 votes. “This is a clear indication that there is internal discontent among the NDA leaders,” he said.

A senior corporator from the TDP said that they would introspect as to what went wrong during the elections.