Elections in Andhra Pradesh

Elections in Andhra Pradesh state, India are conducted in accordance with the Constitution of India. The Assembly of Andhra Pradesh creates laws regarding the conduct of local body elections unilaterally while any changes by the state legislature to the conduct of state level elections need to be approved by the Parliament of India. In addition, the state legislature may be dismissed by the Parliament according to Article 356 of the Indian Constitution and President's rule may be imposed.

For current assembly elections, see 2019 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election.

Andhra Pradesh in India

Andhra Pradesh electoral system

In 2014, Andhra Pradesh (Total 294 seats) was bifurcated into Andhra Pradesh (175 seats) and Telangana (119 seats) states.

Lok Sabha delegation

Andhra Pradesh is represented by a total of 25 MP's in the Lok Sabha. From the total of 25 seats, 20 belong to the general category candidates and the other 5 are reserved for the SC/ST category. In the 2019 Indian general election, out of 25 seats, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party won a majority of 22 seats, while others Telugu Desam Party managed to win 3 seats.[1]

Rajya Sabha delegation

Both houses of the state legislature jointly nominate Members to the Rajya Sabha.

State level representations
Main article: Andhra Pradesh Legislature

Legislative Assembly
Main article: Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly

The Andhra Pradesh legislature assembly has 175 seats. For the election of its members, the state is divided into 175 Assembly Constituencies in which the candidate securing the largest number of votes is declared elected. In the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections 2019, the YSR Congress Party formed the state government having an outstanding majority of 151 seats, 20 seats of TDP ,1 With JSP & 3 As Independents (represented by ASSEMBLY SPEAKER)

Legislative Council
Main article: Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council

The Upper House known as the Legislative Council has lesser powers than the Assembly and several of its members are nominated by the Assembly; others are elected from various sections of society, such as Graduates and Teachers. Currently the Legislative Council consists of 58 members.

Electoral history

The first general elections were conducted in Andhra state in 1955, for 196 constituencies representing 11 Districts. In 1956, the United Andhra Pradesh State Legislative Assembly had 294 seats representing 23 districts. From 1956 to 1958 the United Andhra Pradesh Legislature was Unicameral and from 1958 when the council was formed the Legislative Council was abolished and the United Andhra Pradesh Legislature became Unicameral once again, until March 2007 when it was re-established and elections were held for its seats as per The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Bill, 2004.[2] From 2014 there are 175 constituencies in Andhra Legislative Assembly and 58 constituencies Andhra Legislative Council.

Main political parties

YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Jana Sena Party (JSP), Indian National Congress (INC), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM).

Andhra state (1953–1956)

Total Seats – 28

Year Parliament 1st party 2nd party 3rd party
1952[lower-alpha 1] 1st Lok Sabha INC 6 CPI 6 KMPP 2 SP 2 IND 12

United Andhra Pradesh (1956–2014)

Total Seats – 43 (1957 & 1962)
Total Seats – 41 (1967 & 1971)
Total Seats – 42 (from 1977)

Year Parliament 1st party 2nd party 3rd party Other party
1957 2nd Lok Sabha INC 37
1962 3rd Lok Sabha INC 34 CPI 7 - SW 1 IND 1 -
1967 4th Lok Sabha INC 35 SW 3 - IND 2 - CPI 1 -
1971 5th Lok Sabha INC 28 TPS 10 - CPI 1 CPI(M) 1 IND 1 -
1977 6th Lok Sabha INC(R) 41 JP 1 -
1980 7th Lok Sabha INC(R) 42 -
1984 8th Lok Sabha TDP 31 INC 6
1989 9th Lok Sabha INC 39 TDP 2 - AIMIM 1 -
1991 10th Lok Sabha INC 25 TDP 13 - CPI 1 CPI(M) 1 BJP 1 AIMIM 1 -
1996 11th Lok Sabha INC 22 TDP 16 - CPI 2 - CPI(M) 1 AIMIM 1 -
1998 12th Lok Sabha INC 22 TDP 12 - BJP 4 - CPI 2 AIMIM 1 JD 1
1999 13th Lok Sabha TDP 29 BJP 7 - INC 5 - AIMIM 1 -
2004 14th Lok Sabha INC 29 TDP 5 TRS 5 CPI 1 CPI(M) 1 AIMIM 1 -
2009 15th Lok Sabha INC 33 TDP 6 - TRS 2 - AIMIM 1 -

Andhra Pradesh (2014-)

Total Seats – 25

Year Parliament 1st party 2nd party 3rd party
2014 16th Lok Sabha TDP 15 YSRC 8 BJP 2
2019 17th Lok Sabha YSRC 22 TDP 3 -

Andhra state (1953–1956)
Year Election Chief Minister Party Party-wise seats details Opposition Leader
1955 First Assembly Bezawada Gopala Reddy (Congress) Total: 196. Congress: 119
CPI: 15, Independents: 8		 Puchalapalli Sundarayya

Andhra Pradesh (1956–2014)
Year Election Chief Minister Party Party-wise seats details Opposition Leader
1957 First Assembly Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Damodaram Sanjivayya (Congress) INC 68; PDF 22; Independent 12; Total 105 Puchalapalli Sundarayya
1962 Second Assembly Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Kasu Brahmananda Reddy		 (Congress) Total: 300. Congress: 177
CPI: 51, Swatantra Party: 19, Independents: 51		 Puchalapalli Sundarayya
1967 Third Assembly Kasu Brahmananda Reddy
P.V. Narasimha Rao		 (Congress) Total: 287. Congress: 165
Swatantra Party: 29, CPM: 9,CPI: 11, BJS : 3, RPI: 1, SSP: 1, Independents: 68		 T. Nagi Reddy
1972 Fourth Assembly P.V. Narasimha Rao
Jalagam Vengala Rao		 (Congress) Congress: 219/287, Independents: 57. Vacant
1978 Fifth Assembly Marri Chenna Reddy
T. Anjaiah
Bhavanam Venkatarami Reddy
Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy		 Congress(Indira) Total: 294. INC(I)+Congress: 205, Janata Party: 60, Ind: 15. Gouthu Latchanna
1983 Sixth Assembly Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao
Nadendla Bhaskara Rao		 (Telugu Desam)
(Rebel TDP Group)		 Total: 294. Telugu Desam: Approx 205.
Congress: 60, BJP: 3, CPI: 4, CPM: 5.		 Mogaligundla Baga Reddy
1985 Seventh Assembly Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (2) Telugu Desam Party Total: 294. TDP: 202, Congress: 50
BJP: 8, Janata Party: 3, CPI: 11, CPM: 11		 Mogaligundla Baga Reddy
1989 Eighth Assembly M Chenna Reddy (2)
Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy
Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy (2)		 Congress Total: 294. Congress: 181, TDP: 74. N T Rama Rao
1994 Ninth Assembly Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (3)
Nara Chandrababu Naidu		 Telugu Desam Party Total: 294. TDP: 216, Congress: 26, CPI: 19, CPM: 15, BJP: 3 P. Janardhan Reddy
1999 Tenth Assembly Nara Chandrababu Naidu (2) (Telugu Desam Party) Total: 294. TDP+BJP: 180+10 = 190, Congress: 91 Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy
2004 Eleventh Assembly Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy Congress Total: 294. Congress: 185, TDP: 47, TRS: 26, CPM:9, CPI:6, MIM:4,BJP:2, BSP:1 Nara Chandrababu Naidu
2009 Thirteenth Assembly Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (2)
Konijeti Rosaiah
Kiran Kumar Reddy		 Congress Total: 294. Congress: 156. TDP: 92, Praja Rajyam Party: 18, TRS: 10. Nara Chandrababu Naidu

Andhra Pradesh

In 2014, Andhra Pradesh (Total 294) was bifurcated into Telangana (119) and Andhra Pradesh (175) states.

Year Election Chief Minister Party Party-wise seats details Opposition Leader
2014 Fourteenth Assembly Nara Chandrababu Naidu TDP Total: 175. TDP: 102. BJP:4 ;
YSR Congress: 67		 Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy
2019 Fifteenth Assembly Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy YSRCP Total: 175. YSR Congress:151,
TDP: 23, JSP:1.		 Nara Chandrababu Naidu

Performance of Political Parties
9 5 1
INC TDP YSRCP
Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly
Political Party Andhra State 1955 United Andhra Pradesh 1957 1962 1967 1972 1978 1983 1985 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 Andhra Pradesh 2014 2019
INC 119 68 177 165 219 30 60 50 181 26 91 185 156 0 0
JP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP 60 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 M/D NCP
BJP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP 3 8 5 3 12 2 2 4 0
CPI 15 0 51 11 7 6 6 11 8 19 0 6 4 0 0
CPI(M) NCP NCP CPI 9 1 8 5 11 6 15 2 9 1 0 0
TDP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP 201 202 74 216 180 47 92 102 23
TRS NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP TDP 26 10 NCP NCP
AIMIM NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP 4 1 4 4 7 NCP NCP
PRP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP 18 INC NCP
LSP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP 1 NC [lower-alpha 2] NC
YSRCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP INC 67 [lower-alpha 3] 151
JSP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NC [lower-alpha 4] 1
Independents [lower-alpha 5] 22 13 51 68 57 15 0 0 15 0 5 0 3 1 0
Others 40 24 21 34 3 175 [lower-alpha 6] 20 9 1 2 0 15 0 1 0
Total 196 105 300 287 287 294 294 294 294 294 294 294 294 175 175
Legend
Particular Representation
Did not exist/Did not contest previously NCP
Merger/Dissolved M/D
Split
Debut
Did not contest NC
  1. 1st general election was conducted in 1952 for the Madras State and the Andhra majority area was still part of it with 28 seats until the formation of Andhra State in the year 1953
  2. Party is functioning but not into active Politics
  3. Due to its contesting in By-elections earlier this is not treated as Debut
  4. Outside support to NDA which included TDP and BJP
  5. Independents and Others may differ due to lack of differenciation
  6. All these 175 seats were secured by the INC faction INC(R)

History of political parties
Main article: Politics of Andhra Pradesh

The Indian National Congress (INC) won a majority of seats at the state level continuously from the formation of the state until 1983 when the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was formed by Actor N.T.Rama Rao, the first non-Congress government in the state. From 1984 to 2004, the politics of the state was essentially a two party system. The INC regained the state from 1989 to 1994.

The TDP formed the state government from 1994 to 2004. In 2004, the INC formed the government again.[3] This government also completed its second term having won the Assembly elections in 2009. The Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) was formed in 2008 by Telugu Film Actor Chiranjeevi; that party won the third largest number of seats in the 2009 state assembly elections and then merged into congress. After the death of the chief minister Y. S. Rajashekar Reddy his son Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy came into the lime light. He has resigned from congress after disputes with congress leadership at center. The TDP forms the principal opposition party in the state assembly during this time.

The state had an ongoing sub-regionalist Telangana movement with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) being formed in 2001 on this platform. And under the leadership of K Chandrashekar Rao separate state of Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh. Then during next elections TDP had emerged with highest number of seats after fighting the elections with BJP and Pawan Kalyan who was entering politics during that time. Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has formed a new party after resigning from congress named Y. S. R Congress party which was the main opposition from 2014–2019. During this period JanaSena the party of Pawan Kalyan cut ties with TDP due to conflict on special status of Andhra Pradesh which was one of the commitments during the states bifurcation in 2014. Also TDP cut ties with BJP in 2019 for the same reason.

During 2019 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections YSR congress party won with a landslide victory in both elections. Currently TDP is in opposition in the state assembly. JanaSena getting third highest percentage of votes and both BJP and Congress became small parties in Andhra Pradesh

Election Commission

Elections in Andhra Pradesh are conducted by the Election Commission of India whose state level head is the Chief Election Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh, the authority created under the Constitution. It is a well established convention that once the election process commences, no courts intervene until the results are declared by the election commission. During the elections, vast powers are assigned to the election commission to the extent that it can function as a civil court, if needed.

Electoral process
Main article: Electoral Process in India

The latest election in Andhra Pradesh were conducted in two phases.[4] All citizens of India above 18 years of age are eligible to enrol as voters in the electoral rolls. It is the responsibility of the eligible voters to enrol. Normally, voter registrations are allowed at latest one week prior to the last date for nomination of candidates.

Pre elections

The Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct enters into force as soon as the notification for polls is issued. This places restrictions on the campaigning by political parties as well as prohibits certain government actions that would unduly influence the election.

Voting day

The electoral process is the same as in the rest of India with Electronic Voting Machines being used for all Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections.

Post elections

After the election day, the EVMs are stood stored in a strong room under heavy security. After the different phases of the elections are complete, a day is set to count the votes. The votes are tallied and typically, the verdict is known within hours. The candidate who has mustered the most votes is declared the winner of the constituency.

The party or coalition that has won the most seats is invited by the Governor to form the new government. The coalition or party must prove its majority in the floor of the house (Legislative Assembly) in a vote of confidence by obtaining a simple majority (minimum 50%) of the votes in the House.

Absentee voting

As of now, India does not have an absentee ballot system. Section 19 of The Representation of the People Act (RPA)-1950 allows people to register to vote whore above 18 years of age and an 'ordinary resident' of the residing constituency i.e. living at the current address for 6 months or longer.[5] Section 20 of the above Act disqualifies non-resident Indians (NRI) from getting their name registered in the electoral rolls. Consequently, it also prevents an NRI from casting a vote in elections to the Parliament and to the State Legislatures.

The Representation of the People (Amendment) 2006 Bill was introduced in the Parliament by Shri Hanraj Bharadwaj, Minister of Law and Justice during February 2006 with an objective to amend Section 20 of the RPA-1950 to enable NRIs to vote. Despite the report submitted by the Parliamentary Standing Committee two years ago, the Government has so far failed to act on the recommendations. The Bill was reintroduced in the 2008 budget session of the Parliament to the Lok Sabha. But no action taken once again.

Several civic society organisations have urged the government to amend the RPA act to allow NRI's and people on the move to cast their vote through absentee ballot system.[6][7]

Further reading
  • Subrata K. Mitra and V. B. Singh. 1999. Democracy and Social Change in India: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the National Electorate. New Delhi: Sage Publications. ISBN 81-7036-809-X (India HB) ISBN 0-7619-9344-4 (U.S. HB).
  • Subrata K. Mitra, Mike Enskat, Clemens Spiess (eds.). 2004. Political Parties in South Asia. Greenwood: Praeger.
  • Subrata K. Mitra/Mike Enskat/V. B. Singh. 2001. India, in: Nohlen, Dieter (Ed.). Elections in Asia and the Pacific: A Data Handbook. Vol. I. Oxford: Oxford University Press

See also

References
  1. "MP (Lok Sabha)". Official portal of Andhra Pradesh Government. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 September 2005. Retrieved 8 August 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Election Commission India". Archived from the original on 16 April 2009. Retrieved 16 April 2009.
  4. "Election Commission India". Archived from the original on 19 June 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
  5. Representation of the People Act-1950 Archived 26 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Petition for Absentee Voting in Indian Elections Archived 16 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Non-Resident Indians Voting rights in the upcoming general elections
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