Telugu Desam Party leads early Visakhapatnam mayoral vote counts

Counting operations for the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation elections began at 8 am Tuesday across 113 counting halls and 1,507 counting tables set up on Andhra University’s North and South campuses.

Telugu Desam Party Leads Early Mayoral Vote Counts

By 8:50 am, the Telugu Desam Party had secured 53 votes in the mayoral contest, while the YSR Congress Party had received 29 votes, the Congress two votes, and other candidates 31 votes. In ward-wise trends across Visakhapatnam, the Telugu Desam Party held leads in eight wards, the YSR Congress Party in five, the Jana Sena in two, the Bharatiya Janata Party in one, and an Independent candidate in one ward. Officials opened strong rooms at 6 am in the presence of candidates and election agents, starting the process with postal ballots in wards 23, 43, 56, and 89.

District authorities deployed roughly 5,000 personnel for counting duties under a three-tier police security arrangement. The exercise is being monitored by District Collector and Election Officer M. Abhishikth Kishore, Commissioner of Police Shankhabrata Bagchi, and GVMC Commissioner Ketan Garg. Officials scheduled a maximum of two rounds to complete the counting process for 92 urban local bodies across Andhra Pradesh, covering 13 municipal corporations and 79 municipalities and Nagar Panchayats following the November 1 polling.

Bheemunipatnam Records Highest Participation Among Urban Voters

Voter turnout for the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation election reached 51.47 percent, with 945,915 voters participating out of 1,837,901 eligible registrants. GVMC Commissioner Ketan Garg reported a turnout of 56.32 percent, spanning 1,035,154 voters. Bheemunipatnam recorded the highest participation at 66.27 percent, followed by Anakapalli at 65.60 percent, Aganampudi at 62.08 percent, and Gajuwaka at 60.90 percent.

Low urban turnout figures were compounded by a lacklustre campaign season, internal political friction over ticket distribution that required a week to resolve, and a three-day disruption to public services and campaigning caused by Cyclone Arnab. Aside from minor clashes in a few wards between workers from NDA parties and the YSRCP, voting on November 1 proceeded largely peacefully.

Independent Candidates Emerge as Potential Kingmakers in Vizianagaram

In Vizianagaram, where 169 candidates contested 62 divisions, political analysts point to independent candidates as potential kingmakers in tight races. Veteran journalist and political analyst Elisetti Suresh said that votes polled for independents will prove critical where margins between the YSRCP and alliance candidates range between 3,500 and 4,500 votes. The NDA alliance and the YSRCP each fielded 62 candidates, while 45 candidates from the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and independents entered the contest. Turnout in Vizianagaram reached 62.73 percent, with 139,911 voters participating out of 2.33 lakh eligible citizens.