Rebels Winning In Pithapuram, What Went Wrong?

Pithapuram Municipality of Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s Constituency delivered a peculiar result.

Although the ruling Jana Sena Party secured the Municipal Chairman’s seat, rebel candidates made an unexpected impact in the individual wards.

Ten independents winning came as a shock to candidates of the major parties and it has become a major topic of discussion across the constituency.

Janasena candidate Danam Lazar Babu emerged victorious with a good margin of 8,944 votes.

Out of the 36 total wards in the Pithapuram Municipality, three were decided unanimously before the polls.

Among the contested wards, the alliance partners secured a majority: Jana Sena won 16 wards, the TDP won 5, and the BJP won 1, effectively securing hold on the Muncipality. The main opposition party, the YSRCP, was left with only a single ward.

By winning in 10 wards, independent candidates delivered a major shock to both the ruling and opposition parties.

In wards 17, 21, 31, and 34, rebel candidates from the Janasena Party entered the fray and secured resounding victories.

In wards 8, 9, 33, and 36, leaders who failed to secure a TDP ticket contested as independents and proved their mettle.

In wards 1 and 18, YSRCP rebel candidates emerged victorious and were elected as councilors.

The election of such a large number of independent candidates in Pithapuram is a phenomenon unseen in any other municipality across the erstwhile East Godavari district has caused a local sensation and sparked significant political discussion.

The same electorate, which gave a massive mandate to JSP Candidate Danam Lazar Babu for the position of Chairperson, chose to favor local rebel leaders transcending party lines when it came to the ward-level elections.

It is very interesting to see how the parties ignored stronger candidates in giving tickets.

Even though the alliance seat-sharing is done as per strength at the state-level, Chandrababu Naidu had mostly given up Pithapuram to Pawan Kalyan so that the Deputy CM feels secure in his own seat.

We have seen him sacrifice his local strongman, Varma too and did not even replace the Party Incharge for the constituency.

Rebels winnning so many wards means there is an issue with the selection of candidates in both the parties.

Did that issue arise because TDP did not do its usual exercise in Seat-Sharing and Candidates Selection to give Pawan Kalyan a free hand in Pithapuram? There is a possibility.