MLC bypoll to Vizag Local Bodies constituency to be a ‘no-contest election’ as NDA chooses to sit it out

YSRCP candidate Botcha Satyanarayana coming out of the Visakhapatnam Collectorate after filling his nomination for the MLC bypoll on August 12, 2024.
| Photo Credit: K.R. DEEPAK

The MLC bypoll to the Visakhapatnam Local Authorities constituency in Andhra Pradesh scheduled for August 30 will be a ‘no-contest election’, with the ruling TDP-led NDA combine deciding not to field any candidate.

It is learnt that TDP national president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has decided that his party will sit out the byelection, making it a cakewalk for YSRCP candidate and former Minister Botcha Satyanarayana.

The seat in the Legislative Council fell vacant after Vamsi Krishna Yadav quit the YSRCP and resigned as a member of the House, ahead of the general elections in Andhra Pradesh. He then joined the Jana Sena Party (JSP) and won the Visakhapatnam South Assembly constituency by defeating YSRCP’s Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar.

Though the YSRCP lost the Assembly elections miserably, securing only 11 of the total 175 seats, the party, with 39 members, still has a majority in the 58-member Legislative Council.

Citing the reasons for the TDP stepping out of the contest, the party’s Andhra Pradesh unit president Palla Srinivasa Rao said, “Mr. Naidu believes it (the MLC bypoll) is not worth contesting and that it is a waste of resources.”

Herculean task

However, it is believed that running the campaign and winning the bypoll would have been a Herculean task for the TDP. They would have set up camps across the undivided Visakhapatnam district and undertaken hectic parleys to convince the local body members, which the party believes is not worth doing at this moment.

The last-minute decision of the TDP leadership came as a shocker for many as several top leaders of the party were eyeing the MLC post. Among the prominent names were Gandi Babji, Byra Dilip Chakravarthy and Peela Govind.

Numbers favour YSRCP

The bypoll is being held for the local bodies in the undivided Visakhapatnam district comprising Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju districts. Combining all panchayats, corporations, and municipalities, there are 830 plus votes, of which the YSRCP has 570 plus standing members while the NDA (TDP,JSP and BJP) has close to 220.

Luring around 300 YSRCP votes would have been a Herculean task for the TDP.

However, the NDA members were hopeful that the local body members would side with them, claiming that the latter were unhappy with the YSRCP leadership for the panchayats and other local body members were “rendered almost powerless” during the tenure of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

There was no funding for the projects in their respective areas and even the YSRCP corporators in the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) were unhappy during the Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tenure, the NDA partners argued, adding that these were among the reasons for the YSRCP’s defeat in the recently held GVMC Standing Committee election.

A TDP senior leader recently said that the election for the Standing Committee was a different ‘ball game’ as just a few seats were what mattered. “But, we would have to gain the support of more than additional 300 members in the bypoll,” he said.

Political analysts, however, say that it was a “clever decision” by Mr. Naidu. The TDP just won the Assembly and general elections handsomely. It would have been a bitter pill for the party if it did not win the MLC bypoll and it would have empowered the sagging image of Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, they say.

But at the same time, they say that had an NDA candidate defeated a tall leader such as Botcha Satyanarayana, it would have been a disaster for the YSRCP and Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy.