2009 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election

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All 294 seats to Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly 148 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	72.64%[1]
Majority party Minority party   Leader Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy N. Chandrababu Naidu Party INC TDP Alliance UPA Maha Kutami Leader since 1999 1995 Leader's seat Pulivendula (won) Kuppam (won) Last election 185, 38.56% 47, 37.59% Seats won 156 92 Seat change 29 45 Popular vote 15,374,448 11,826,457 Percentage 36.56% 28.12% Swing 2.00%[2] 9.47%[2]   Third party Fourth party   Leader Chiranjeevi K. Chandrashekar Rao Party PRP TRS Alliance – Maha Kutami Leader since 2008 2001 Leader's seat Tirupati (won), Palakollu (lost) Did not contest Last election New party 26, 6.68% Seats won 18 10 Seat change 18 16 Popular vote 6,863,509 1,678,906 Percentage 16.32% 3.99% Swing 16.32% 2.69%
2009 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election
Chief Minister before election Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy INC Elected Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy INC

The 2009 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election took place in April 2009, concurrently with the 2009 Indian general election. The elections were held in the state in the first phase on 16 April 2009 and the second phase on 23 April 2009. The results were declared on 16 May 2009 The incumbent Indian National Congress retained power in the Andhra Pradesh State Assembly lower house, though with a reduced majority. The Congress Legislature party re-elected incumbent Chief minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy as its leader thus re-nominating him to the post.

Previous Assembly

In the 2004 Andhra Pradesh Assembly election, Congress had swept the state, winning 185 of the 294 seats in the Assembly. The Congress' pre-poll alliance partners Left Front and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) also did well, winning 15 and 26 seats respectively, taking the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) tally to 226.^[3] As the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy was invited to form the Government by Governor Surjit Singh Barnala.^[4]

As expected, the Government lasted the full term of 5 years and the tenure of the Legislative Assembly was due to expire on 30 May 2009. The Election Commission of India (ECI) decided to hold the Assembly elections along with the general election. The election in each Assembly constituency (AC) was held in the same phase as the election to the corresponding Parliamentary constituency that the AC falls under.^[5]

Background

After the 2008 Lok Sabha vote of confidence, the Left Front withdrew support to the Congress in the state as well. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and TRS then joined the Left as part of the national Third Front. In Andhra Pradesh, this alliance called themselves the Maha Kutami or "Grand Alliance" against what they called the "corrupt Congress" and "communal BJP".^[6][7]

However, after the elections in Andhra Pradesh were completed, but before the counting of votes, TRS switched allegiance to the NDA.^[8]

Schedule

Parties and alliances

Alliance/Party				Flag	Symbol	Leader	Seats contested
	Indian National Congress					D. Srinivas	294
	Maha Kutami		Telugu Desam Party			N. Chandrababu Naidu	225	302[a]
			Telangana Rashtra Samithi			K. Chandrashekar Rao	45
			Communist Party of India (Marxist)			B. V. Raghavulu	18
			Communist Party of India			K. Narayana	14
	Bharatiya Janata Party					Bandaru Dattatreya	271
	All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen					Akbaruddin Owaisi	8
	Praja Rajyam Party					Chiranjeevi	288
	Lok Satta Party					Jaya Prakash Narayana	246

Results

Vote share

Seat share

Results by party

Source: Election Commission of India

Alliance/Party				Popular vote			Seats
				Votes	%	±pp	Contested	Won	+/−
	Indian National Congress			15,374,448	36.55	2.00	294	156	29
	Maha Kutami		Telugu Desam Party	11,826,457	28.12	9.47	225	92	45
			Telangana Rashtra Samithi	1,678,906	3.99	2.69	45	10	16
			Communist Party of India	514,682	1.22	0.22	14	4	2
			Communist Party of India (Marxist)	603,407	1.43	0.49	18	1	8
		Total		14,623,452	34.76	N/A	302	107	N/A
	Praja Rajyam Party			6,863,509	16.32	16.32	288	18	18
	Bharatiya Janata Party			1,192,814	2.84	0.21	271	2
	All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen			360,211	0.83	0.22	8	7	3
	Other parties			1,721,522	4.13	N/A	1086	1	N/A
	Independents			1,922,490	4.57	2	1406	3	8
Total				42,058,446	100.00	N/A	3,655	294	N/A
Vote statistics
Valid votes				42,058,446	99.92
Invalid votes				36,158	0.08
Votes cast/Turnout				42,096,866	72.72
Abstentions				15,795,393	27.28
Registered voters				57,892,259

Results by district

Results by constituency

Government formation

Despite losing their alliance partner after voting and fighting anti-incumbency in the state, Congress managed to get the majority in the 294-member Assembly with 157 seats. Analysis of the results showed that the split of the anti-Congress votes between the Grand Alliance and actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi's newly formed Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) helped increase the Congress overall seat count.^[9]

The incumbent Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy was sworn in for a second term on 20 May 2009.^[10] His council of 35 ministers were sworn in by Governor N. D. Tiwari a few days later on 25 May 2009.^[11]