2024 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election

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← outgoing members
All 175 seats in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly 88 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Leader Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy N. Chandrababu Naidu Party YSRCP TDP Alliance – NDA Leader since 2011 1995 Leader's seat Pulivendla Kuppam Last election 151 seats, 49.95% 23 seats, 39.17% Current seats 135 23 Seats needed 65
Incumbent Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy YSRCP

Legislative Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Andhra Pradesh on 13 May 2024 to elect the 175 members of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on 4 June 2024.

Background

The tenure of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end on 11 June 2024.^[1] The previous assembly elections were held in April 2019. After the election, YSR Congress Party formed the state government, with Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy becoming the Chief Minister.^[2]

Schedule

The schedule of the election was announced by the Election Commission of India on 16 March 2024.^[3]

Parties and alliances

Alliance/Party				Flag	Symbol	Leader	Seats contested
	YSR Congress Party					Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy	175
	NDA[4][5]		Telugu Desam Party			N. Chandrababu Naidu	144[5]	175
			Jana Sena Party			Pawan Kalyan	21[5]
			Bharatiya Janata Party			Daggubati Purandeswari	10[5]
	INDIA[6][7]		Indian National Congress			Y. S. Sharmila	159	175
			Communist Party of India (Marxist)			V. Srinivasa Rao[8]	8[9]
			Communist Party of India			K. Ramakrishna	8[10]

Candidates

Election issues

In the lead-up to the election, several issues have come to light, including demands for special category status, the capital issue and unemployment in the state.^[16] Incidents such as the murder of Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy’s murder, the attack on Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy^[17] and legal cases against N. Chandrababu Naidu have also gathered significant attention.^[18] Despite facing anti-incumbency, the YSR Congress relies on its welfare schemes, particularly in rural and tribal areas. Meanwhile, the NDA focuses on concerns such as inflation, unemployment and broader development, gaining support in urban areas.^[19][20]

State capital

During the previous five-year tenure of the TDP-BJP government, Amaravati was proposed as the capital for the state of Andhra Pradesh.^[21] However, this plan was later scrapped by the successive YSRCP government, which aimed to establish three capitals namely Visakhapatnam, Amaravati and Kurnool as executive, legislative and judiciary purposes respectively, as part of a decentralisation initiative which faced legal hurdles and failed to be implemented.^[22] While farmers in the Amaravati region opposed this decision, the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance vowed to reinstate Amaravati as the capital.^[23][24][25] On the contrary Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launched Vision Visaka, reaffirming the establishment of Visakhapatnam as the administrative or executive capital.^[26][27]

Alcohol prices and quality

In the previous 2019 election, the YSRCP made a promise to completely ban alcohol in the state. However, it was not fulfilled and instead, prices were increased with the aim of reducing consumption.^[28] The TDP-JSP alliance, along with the BJP alleged that this led to what they termed as the nation’s largest liquor scam, with significant financial and health implications for consumers, including the risk of liver diseases.^[29][30] The Alliance has pledged to provide good-quality alcohol at reduced prices, claiming that distilleries and breweries are controlled by members and associates of the ruling party, including those producing local brands with poor-quality.^[31] The Alliance leaders also alleged that despite the nationwide shift towards digital transactions, liquor retail outlets in the state have continued to accept cash payments exceeding the Maximum Retail Price (MRP), thereby generating profits for leaders of the ruling party.^[32][33]

Illegal sand mining

The joint committee formed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, submitted a report to the National Green Tribunal on 21 March 2024, revealing ongoing 24-hour illegal sand mining in the inspected regions of Krishna and Guntur districts without valid environmental clearances.^[34] The committee was formed in response to petitions alleging illegal sand mining in the state. Additionally, the committee noted that the state government failed to provide information and documents requested from the Department of Mines and Geology regarding district-wise sand reaches allotted, permitted quantities, and violations.^[35][36][37] Opposition parties have accused ruling party leaders of illegally transporting thousands of lorries of sand daily, with no action taken despite numerous complaints lodged by opposition leaders and local residents.^[38]

Naidu's arrest

TDP supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu was arrested on 9 September 2023 in an alleged multi-crore skill development scam.^[39] The arrest became an election issue in Telangana, which was then soon to enter state polls, with different political parties in the state rushing to support Naidu to woo Andhra settlers.^[40] Naidu's son Nara Lokesh said that Naidu's arrest was unfair and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did the same with firms in Gujarat while he was the state chief minister there.^[41]

Campaigns

Candidates are campaigning by interacting with common people and taking part in their work such as making tea, ironing clothes and weighing vegetables.^[42] Movies and songs to promote own political party denigrate other party leaders have become common by main parties in the state. Use of social media to amplify the reach of such content to the voter has become a core strategy of parties.^[43]

YSR Congress Party

The YSRCP launched its Why AP needs Jagan campaign on 9 November 2023. The outreach campaign would last for 40 days. Bus yatras will also be taken out in all 175 assembly constituencies during the campaign. The campaign has been criticised by the opposition TDP, which countered the campaign with the slogan Why AP hates Jagan.^[44]

Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy announced a mass contact program called Siddham (We are Ready!) for the election campaign,^[45] which was countered by the slogan Samsiddham (We are Prepared!) and Memu Siddhame (We are also Ready!) from the TDP and JSP respectively.^[46] The YSRCP has taken up the slogans Maa Nammakam Nuvve Jagan (Jagan is our belief) and Jagananne Maa Bhavishyattu (Jagan is our future) to reach the public for the upcoming election.^[47][48] The party has finalised and announced candidates for all 175 seats in the upcoming general election through multiple lists.^[49][50]

Manifesto

On 21 April 2024, the party's chief and the chief minister, Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, unveiled the party's manifesto at his camp office in Tadepalle, promising to continue existing welfare schemes for the next five years if elected to power.^[51]

National Democratic Alliance

After huge speculation about an alliance between the TDP and Jana Sena Party (JSP), JSP chief Pawan Kalyan officially announced the tie of both parties in the 2024 polls on 14 September 2023 amidst the arrest of N. Chandrababu Naidu to collectively fight against the incumbent YSRCP.^[52][53] A joint action committee was setup, comprising representatives from both parties.

The first meeting of the committee was held in Rajahmundry on 21 October 2023, addressing public issues, the latest political developments and steps for better coordination between the two parties.^[54][55] Both the TDP and JSP chiefs met on multiple occasions to discuss seat sharing, a common manifesto and other political developments in the state.^[56][57]

On 20 December 2023, to mark the completion of the Nara Lokesh Yuva Galam Padayatra, the TDP and JSP held a joint public meeting called Yuva Galam Navasakam in Polipalli, Vizianagaram district, accommodating around 6 lakh people with Pawan Kalyan attending the meeting.^{[58][59][60][61][62]}

The initial joint list of the TDP-JSP alliance, comprising a total of 118 seats, was formally released by both party chiefs on 24 February 2024. Of these, 24 seats were allotted to the JSP, with 5 candidates named and 94 seats to the TDP.^[63][64] On 28 February 2024, both parties held a joint public meeting called Jenda in Tadepalligudem, West Godavari district, describing it as a historic necessity to defeat the incumbent YSRCP. They emphasized the importance of saving democracy and promoting the development of Andhra Pradesh, urging party cadres to understand the ground reality.^[65][66]

On 9 March 2024, the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, J. P. Nadda issued a joint official statement on behalf of the BJP, TDP and JSP. The statement announced the admission of the TDP to the NDA and finalised the alliance of the BJP, TDP and JSP for the upcoming legislative assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh.^[67][68]

The alliance members have agreed to contest all 175 seats with TDP in 144, JSP in 21 and BJP in 10. The alliance has finalised the candidates through multiple lists.

Telugu Desam Party

The TDP organised various public outreach programs such as Badude Badudu, Isuka Satyagraha Deekshalu and Jaiho BC^[69][70] to engage with the public and campaign against the YSRCP.^[71][72][73] The TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh also launched the Yuva Galam Padayatra, a walkathon to reach the public.^[74]

Jana Sena Party

Earlier to the official formation of the alliance with the TDP, the JSP chief, Pawan Kalyan launched a Varahi Yatra on 14 June 2023 from Annavaram with a specially designed vehicle named as Varahi to campaign against the YSRCP.^[75][76] The campaign was conducted in multiple phases to reach the public widely.^[77]

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress (INC) launched its campaign Intinti Congress via a statewide door-to-door campaign on 20 January 2024.^[78] The recent successes of the INC in the bordering states of Karnataka and Telangana have enthused the party cadre ahead of the state elections.^[78][79] Chief Minister Jagan Reddy's sister Y. S. Sharmila, joined the INC on 4 January 2024 and is currently leading its campaign.^[80][81]

On 22 February 2024, APCC president Y. S. Sharmila and other 40 Congress workers were temporarily detained for protesting against the DSC notification for teacher recruitment. Sharmila herself had reportedly spent the previous night in the party office to avoid house arrest.^[82]

On 26 February 2024, at Anantapur, Sharmila and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced a guarantee of ₹5,000 per month to every poor family if the party comes to power. At the meeting, Kharge criticised prime minister Narendra Modi for not according Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh. He also said that the TDP, JSP and the YSRCP were all stooges of the BJP.^[83] On 1 March, Congress general secretary Sachin Pilot said at a public meeting in Tirupati that the Congress would accord 10-year SCS to Andhra Pradesh immediately if it came to power at the centre.^[84]

Incidents

Electoral malpractices

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu accused the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) of subverting electoral practices. Subsequently, on 28 August 2023, he lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India to ensure all the eligible voters are included and fake voters are removed. He also demanded an enquiry into the transfer of the electoral data to the private agencies and prevent the appointment of grama volunteers instead of teachers for the election duty.^[85][86] He also submitted a documentary evidence of the deletion of 40,000 votes in Visakhapatnam East, 23,000 votes in Vijayawada Central and also at Parchur, Tadikonda and Uravakonda constituencies.^[87][88]

Surveys and polls

Opinion polls

Exit polls

Results

Results by alliance or party

Results by districts

Results by constituency