Why Andhra Pradesh's local body elections have turned into a street war

Andhra Pradesh is witnessing a war. City street corners and village squares are witnessing unprecedented scenes of skirmishes that often metamorph into street violence. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) cadres are clashing almost everyday in a bid to dominate hundreds of urban and thousands of rural local bodies that are going to the polls in November.

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who is leading the charge on behalf of the NDA—which includes allies Jana Sena and the BJP—is accusing his political rival Jagan Mohan Reddy, chief of the YSRCP, of unleashing “criminal politics” across the state in a bid to capture the local bodies. He mentioned Punganur, Darsi, Kadapa, Thamballepalle, and Tirupati as places where YSRCP cadres have indulged in violence and arson, setting vehicles and public properties on fire.

Also read | How Kharge’s slip of the tongue handed fresh ammo to a defensive BJP

The DSP of Madanapalle, a city in the southern part of the state, alleged that a motorcade of 12 vehicles led by PV Mithun Reddy, who is the YSRCP MP from the region, drove through the city creating a major disturbance. He stated that several people, including policemen, were injured in the incident. The YSRCP shot back, saying the MP had gone there solely to campaign and that TDP cadres aggressively attacked the convoy with stones, sticks, and iron rods.

Former minister-police skirmish

Meanwhile, former health minister Vidadala Rajni got involved in a physical altercation with police sub-inspector Priyanka. The politician fell to the ground.

Rajni was under preventive house arrest ahead of the upcoming elections to the Mandal Parishads and Zilla Parishads. SI Priyanka, who was in charge of security, had prevented her from receiving a YSRCP candidate into her house. The visitor sought the leader’s signature on a B-Form, which is essential for filing election nominations. In the ensuing jostle, Rajni lost her balance and fell to the ground.

The state administration had placed several Opposition leaders and candidates under preventive house arrest, allegedly to prevent them from either filing nominations .

As the news went viral on social media, the State Election Commission promptly suspended the police officer.

The irony is that YSRCP candidates often failed to get their nominations through even from the constituencies traditionally considered their strongholds. For instance, in the Vizianagaram Zilla Parishad elections, Botsa Chaitanya, the nephew of senior YSRCP leader Botsa Satyanarayana, filed his nomination, but it was rejected during scrutiny. Jana Sena candidate Kotla Revathi lodged a complaint stating that Chaitanya had voting rights in Ward 41, within the limits of the Vizianagaram Municipal Corporation, and had transferred his vote to Pusapatirega Mandal, which was not valid. After examining the complaint and the supporting documents submitted along with it, the Returning Officer rejected his nomination.

Worse still, Jagan could not secure nominations for his party leaders in Pulivendula, his own Assembly constituency. The Kadapa region has been the stronghold of the YSR family for over four decades, yet Jagan’s candidates could not file nominations in at least 18 wards because they were physically prevented from reaching the election office for filing them.

Opposition leaders under preventive house arrests

The state administration had placed several Opposition leaders and candidates under preventive house arrest, allegedly to prevent them from either filing their own nominations or facilitating nominations of their supporters. When the situation went out of hand, Jagan approached the Supreme Court and got relief. The apex court extended the last date of nomination by two days.

Also read | Andhra local body polls: Naidu alleges YSRCP disrupted nominations; Jagan’s party cries foul

As the YSRCP continued to face severe hurdles, the party approached the court once again, complaining its decisions were not being implemented on the ground. The court in a verbal remark on Tuesday (October 27) said it can not order a “fishing or a roving” enquiry and can only issue a “set of guidelines” which can be followed.

With unabated violence, there are question marks over the first phase of polling scheduled to be held on November 1 and 3. While candidates were physically blocked by ruffians snatching and tearing up nomination papers right in front of election officials, the police allegedly turned a blind eye when cars with rival candidates approaching the place of nominations were smashed or set on fire.

Chief Minister Naidu strongly denied any wrongdoing and accused Jagan of spreading outright falsehoods. He called him a “fake politician” and a “criminal litigant” who was deliberately providing false information to courts. In his view, the YSRCP was nothing more than a criminal gang that engaged in systemic violence. The Left parties criticised the violence and asked Naidu to maintain law and order and facilitate free and fair elections.

Violence videos shock northern states’ viewers

The news of violence over the local body polls has spread rapidly across the country. In the age of social media, where videos go viral instantaneously, the pictures emanating from Andhra Pradesh have even shocked viewers from the northern states. The Federal is receiving calls from Delhi-based journalists asking if the videos are real.

The attempts by TDP cadres to prevent YSRCP candidates from filing nominations is apparently aimed at scoring an early lead over its rivals by pocketing at least one-fourth of the seats without a contest. Naidu seems to make this obvious when he remarked that during the previous YSRCP regime, 24 per cent of local body polls were decided unanimously.

Also read | Yelahanka Palace: How Bengaluru property became centre of Jagan-Sharmila feud

Local body polls are essential in Andhra Pradesh to consolidate grassroots support. But with the next Assembly elections only due in April 2029, why have local body polls become such a high-stakes battle right now? According to political observers, there are essentially two important reasons. One, Naidu would like to consolidate his hold over the grassroots so that he could eventually pass on the political mantle to his son, Nara Lokesh. Two, Naidu is deeply wary of Jagan, as he apprehends that the youthful politician was only waiting in the wings and could stage a massive comeback anytime soon.

Like other southern states, poll-eve violence was unknown in the south for a very long time. As long as the Congress party was in power, it never organised itself in terms of rigid cadres.

How Naidu changed Andhra political scene in 1980s

Naidu, through a former Youth Congress leader, changed all this in the 1980s when he took control of the TDP and the chief ministership, throwing out his father-in-law, the late NT Rama Rao, through a palace coup. He held regular training sessions for the party men and organised them into aggressive cadres while fashioning himself as the CEO of the government.

Local body polls are essential in AP to consolidate grassroots support. But with the next Assembly elections only due in April 2029, why have local body polls become such a high-stakes battle right now?

In Andhra Pradesh, the social benefit schemes of the government could reach the beneficiaries only after they were thoroughly vetted by the party. Apparently, their grip over the local administration was so tight that the police would not even file an FIR without an explicit clearance from the cadres. Jagan, during his rule, appropriated the exact same practice and ran the administration with an iron hand.

His party men bashed TDP cadres with the police turning the other way. Naidu now was only returning the compliment! The levels of aggression have gone a notch higher this time because of Naidu’s worries over losing his grip over the government and failing in handing over the reins to his son.