Andhra municipal polls: Need for electoral reforms has never been more obvious, says Jagan

Alleging that municipal elections in Andhra Pradesh were rigged at every stage and the opposition was denied the chance to compete, YSR Congress Party president and former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said on Tuesday that the need for electoral reforms has never been more obvious. 

He took to social media to slam Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu after counting trends indicate that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will make a near clean sweep of the election to 100 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). 

He mocked team Chandrababu Naidu, Police and State Election Commission (SEC) by ‘congratulating’ them. “You have demonstrated how to win an election spectacularly by ensuring that the opposition never gets a chance to compete,” the YSRCP chief said in a post on X. “At every stage, the process was rigged: * Nomination: Hijacked! * Scrutiny: Hijacked! * Withdrawal: Hijacked! * Polling agents: Obstructed or Pulled Out! * Poll: Rigged! * Poll percentage: Manipulated! * Counting: Hijacked!” Jagan said Chandrababu Naidu selected the candidates, but people never elected them. “These are no longer elections but selections! The need for electoral reforms has never been more obvious!,” added the former Chief Minister. 

Meanwhile, YSRCP SC Cell State President TJR Sudhakar Babu declared November 3 a black day in Andhra Pradesh's political history, stating that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had hijacked the entire municipal electoral process through police power, intimidation and TDP goons. 

Speaking at the YSRCP Central Office, he said Chandrababu had murdered democracy in broad daylight rather than seeking the people's mandate through free and fair elections. Sudhakar Babu said that after two-and-a-half years in power, Chandrababu should have approached voters with his government's development record. 

Instead, having failed to implement the Super Six promises and other electoral commitments, he resorted to intimidation to conceal his government's failures. From preventing nominations and rejecting eligible candidates to forging withdrawal signatures, threatening voters, forcibly expelling polling agents and tearing up victory declaration forms, every stage of the electoral process was systematically undermined.

He condemned the deliberate revival of factional politics and violence in Rayalaseema, Prakasam, Guntur and Palnadu. Attacks on MPs, house arrests of MLAs and restrictions on elected representatives exposed the dangerous state of democracy under Chandrababu's administration. He questioned how a government that failed to provide input subsidies and remunerative prices to farmers, implement promised welfare schemes for women, ensure timely fee reimbursement for students or deliver unemployment allowances could celebrate electoral victories secured through intimidation. 

Sudhakar Babu said the entire police machinery, from the DGP to lower-ranking personnel, along with Returning Officers and election officials, had been used for political purposes. Repeated complaints to the State Election Commission failed to secure justice, while institutions responsible for conducting impartial elections acted in favour of the ruling coalition.