New Delhi (06.12.2023): The recent Assembly election results in five states alerted many to re-strategies their plans for 2024 Lok Sabha elections but Andhra Pradesh is the state where Assembly elections will also be held simultaneously. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy considered to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apparently may follow the policy of the BJP in ticket distribution.
Andhra Pradesh may deny tickets to 50 % legislators
To deal with anti-incumbency, it is likely that YRS Congress Party may deny tickets to half of its legislators from Lok Sabha and Assembly. Every effort of Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu to be part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has so far gone futile. Any alliance with TDP in Andhra Pradesh will not allow the BJP to spread its wings in the state. So, it is looking for alternate ways.
Why AP is important?
Andhra Pradesh is important because Odisha and Andhra Pradesh are such states which despite not being part of the NDA are as good as allies of the BJP. YSR Congress and the BJP are benefited by each other with this relation and Naidu is also shown his right place. So, the present arrangement in Andhra Pradesh suits the BJP.
Will AP learn lessons from Telangana?
Jagan Mohan is not as ambitious as K Chandrashekar Rao. So, Jagan Mohan will not face the problem what KCR faced. Muslim population in Andhra Pradesh is less than 10 per cent so the polarisation will not have similar impact as it had in Telangana. Terming YRS Congress Party as the B team of the BJP will not have the same impact as it had on BRS. But it will certainly make the YRS Congress more cautious.
Last election of N Chandrababu Naidu
For Naidu, this could be the last election as an active politicians and political parties like this always want to fix the succession issue before hanging boots. Naidu would try everything for his son Nara Lokesh before he calls it quit to active politics.
Facts and figures
• Assembly Election in Andhra will be held along with Lok Sabha elections
• There are 175 seats in the state assembly and any political party or group would need 88 seats to form government
• YSR Congress Party has 147 members in the state Assembly
• There are Five independent MLA supporting YSRCP
• There are 19 MLAs of Telugu Desham Party
• Four Independent MLAs are against the government
• In 2019, a total of 79.88% per cent was recorded which was 1.94 per cent higher than 2014 Assembly elections.
• YSRCP had garnered 49.95 per cent votes in the last Assembly elections
• The TDP secured 39.18 per cent votes
• A total number of voters entitled to exercise their franchise were 3,93,45,717 in Andhra Pradesh and 3,13,33,631 exercised their franchise.
• The number of male voters in the state stood at 1,55,45,211
• The number of female voters was 1,57,87,759
