After the Telangana assembly election results, one of the major reasons found for the BRS party’s defeat is the repetition of the same MLAs. The party won the seats 9 out of 12 where it changed the sitting MLAs. After the results, the party leadership expressed regret and realized that they could have changed more candidates. In some interviews, KTR mentioned that he suggested changing at least 30-40 MLAs, but his father decided to go with sittings. With BRS losing the elections, being limited to just 39 seats, its impact is clearly evident in Andhra Pradesh politics.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is now in the process of replacing or shuffling candidates. So far, he has announced in-charges for 35 assembly constituencies and 3 Lok Sabha constituencies. Among these, new faces are present in some constituencies, while in others, a reshuffle has occurred. Now, let’s take a look at the recently held elections in the states of Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. Let’s delve into how their ruling parties fared, whether they replaced MLAs or ran with sitting MLAs, and what the outcome was!
Telangana : Repeating MLAs Went Wrong
In the 2023 elections, BRS announced 115 seats out of 119 in a single list in August, three months before the elections. At that time, BRS Chief KCR was very confident of winning around 90-100 seats. However, the election results limited the BRS party to 39 seats, and the party completely lost in rural areas. Out of the 119 seats, BRS replaced 12 sitting MLAs, winning in 9 of those seats. Stations Ghanpur, Narsapur, Jangaon, Alampur, Boath, Asifabad, Uppal, Korutla, and Huzurabad were the winning seats where BRS replaced candidates. In a recent preparatory meeting for the Lok Sabha elections, KTR stated that BRS would have won if the party had changed more sitting MLAs.
Madhya Pradesh : BJP Gained by Denying Tickets to 33 Sitting MLAs
In Madhya Pradesh, the ruling BJP has denied tickets to 33 sitting MLAs in 2023 assembly elections. This helped BJP to get a majority of 163 seats out of 230 seats. Compared to 2018 elections BJP has gained more 54 seats and more 7.6% voting. BJP has given tickets to 18 of the 25 Jyothiraditya Scindia loyalists, who joined quitting after congress. Jyothiraditya Scindia’s charishma helped the party to win 18 seats in Gwalior and Chambal region. Earlier, BJP got only 7 seats in this region, in 2018 elections.
Chhattisgarh: Replacing MLAs went wrong for Congress
In Chhattisgarh, the ruling Congress denied tickets to 22 sitting MLAs in the 2023 assembly elections. However, the outcome proved unfavourable for the Congress party, as it was limited to 35 seats out of 90. Out of the 22 MLAs who were denied tickets by the Congress party, 12 met AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal after the election results. They questioned the rationale behind the denial of tickets, expressing that the survey reports had cost the party in the elections. They told him that by denying tickets to 22 sitting MLAs, Congress made a self-goal and gifted those winning seats to the BJP. They demanded action against the in-charges and co-in-charges, alleging that they were responsible for the fake survey reports that misled the party high command, resulting in defeat. They also pointed out that strategist Sunil Kanugolu was tasked with conducting the survey in Chhattisgarh but did not proceed due to the state leadership’s reluctance. They claimed that a similar situation arose in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Rajasthan : Repeating MLAs Cost Congress
In the Rajasthan assembly election results in 2023, the ruling congress limited to just 69 seats from its previous number 100. Reviewing the results Congress top leadership Mallikharjuna Kharge, Rahul Gandhi come to conclusion that repeating the most of sitting mlas as the major reason for the defeat in the state. Despite internal party surveys suggested 50 MLAs are facing anti-incumbency in the ground, but party hardly denied tickets to over 12 MLAs. In the Gehlot cabinet out of 25 ministers 18 were lost the elections.
Also Read: 2024 Elections: YS Jagan Considering Denial of Tickets to 50-65 MLAs
Big Changes in YSRCP in Andhra Ahead 2024 Elections
As the elections draw nearer in Andhra Pradesh, the ruling YSRCP is concentrating on its list of candidates. According to survey reports, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is reviewing each constituency, reshuffling candidates, and denying tickets to some. On December 11th, 2023, the YSRCP announced a list appointing leaders in charge of 11 constituencies. They moved some leaders from their current constituencies to others, and in some places, appointed new leaders.
For example, MLA Vidudala Rajini moved to the Guntur West assembly segment from Chilakaluripet, Minister Adimulapu Suresh moved to the Kondepi assembly segment from Yerragondapalem, Minister Mekathoti Sucharitha moved from the Prathipadu assembly segment to Tadikonda, and MLA Merugu Nagarjuna moved from the Vemuru constituency to the Santhanuthalapadu constituency in charge. In Mangalagiri, the party appointed Ganji Chiranjeevi as in charge, in Addanki Panem Hanimi Reddy was appointed as in charge, and in Repalle, Dr. Evuru Ganesh was appointed as the in charge.
Recently, YSRCP announced its second list, appointing in-charges for 27 constituencies, including 3 Lok Sabha seats. Among them, three MLAs were shifted from assembly segments to Lok Sabha segments, and three MPs were shifted from Lok Sabha segments to assembly segments. In the second list, five successors have been named: MLA Perni Nani’s son, Perni Krishna Murthy; MLA Chevireddy Bhaskara Reddy’s son, Mohith Reddy; MLA Bhumana Karunakara Reddy’s son, Abhinay Reddy; MLA Mustafa’s daughter, Shaik Fatima; and Rajya Sabha member Pilli Subhash Chandrabose’s son, Surya Prakash, appointed in-charges for the constituencies Machilipatnam, Chandragiri, Tirupati, Guntur East, and Ramachandrapuram assembly segments, respectively. Shockingly, Minister Gudivada Amarnath was replaced as the in-charge of Anakapalli with Malasala Bharath
Many are analyzing this move as a response to the Telangana election results, where BRS lost due to anti-incumbency against MLAs. Jagan may not want to repeat such a mistake and is directly informing candidates whom he will not be giving tickets. This time, YSRCP is aiming for ‘Why not 175,’ and Jagan is making dynamic decisions in the allocation of tickets. The change in sittings could be favorable for Jagan or or come at a cost. Let’s wait and see until the election results.
