Vijayawada Mayor Results: A Reality Check for ABV?

Retired IPS officer AB Venkateswara Rao, who contested the Vijayawada Mayor election as an Independent candidate with the backing of the Congress and Left parties, has failed to make a mark and secured the third spot.

Meanwhile, TDP-Jana Sena’s Vangaveeti Radha emerged as the winner of the Vijayawada Mayor post by securing a whopping 2,65,888 votes and won with a record majority of 1,30,872 votes. Whereas, YSRCP’s mayoral candidate Rayana Bhagyalakshmi polled 1,35,016 votes. It can be noted that Radha’s majority is close to runner-up and YCP’s Bhagyalakshim’s polled votes.

On the other hand, ABV settled for a meagre 12,642 votes and stood third. ABV had earlier served as AP Intelligence Chief and also as Vijayawada Police Commissioner. Yet, he failed to secure a respectable number of votes.

Before the elections and during the campaign, ABV took on several top politicians in the state and even made tall statements. However, the Vijayawada Mayor election results clearly raise questions about his ability to translate his administrative experience and public profile into electoral success.

In the past too, several bureaucrats-turned-politicians such as former IAS officer Jayaprakash Narayan, former CBI JD Lakshminarayana and others, have faced electoral setbacks. However, it is too early to jump to conclusions about ABV’s political future. Nevertheless, it appears that ABV has joined the list of bureaucrats who have struggled to find electoral success in politics.