More than 22,800 nominations have been filed for Andhra Pradesh’s urban local body elections, Education Minister Nara Lokesh said on Monday, while defending the election process against allegations that Opposition candidates were prevented from submitting their papers.
In a post on X, Lokesh described the number of nominations as a record and said candidates from every party, community and part of the state had entered the contest. His remarks came as political parties traded claims over the conduct of the elections, which will determine representation in urban local bodies across Andhra Pradesh.
“A record of over 22,800 nominations have been filed for the urban local body elections across Andhra Pradesh,” Lokesh said in the post, which included an attached news article. He added that candidates had come forward from “every party, every community and every corner of the state”.
Lokesh also criticised those who had raised concerns about the process before polling. “Those who cry foul before a single vote is cast should remember: elections are won in the field, not at press meets. Face the people, the people will decide,” he said.
The minister’s comments followed a meeting between former Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Andhra Pradesh Governor S Abdul Nazeer at Lok Bhavan on Sunday. According to the report, Reddy apprised the Governor of what he described as undemocratic practices by the coalition government during the urban local body elections.
Reddy alleged that Opposition candidates were being blocked from filing nominations and sought the Governor’s intervention. He also requested the deployment of Central forces and CCTV coverage throughout the election process. These claims were presented as allegations by the YSRCP president and were not independently established in the report.
The competing positions have placed the nomination process at the centre of the political contest. Lokesh’s statement presents the volume and spread of nominations as evidence of participation, while the YSRCP has questioned whether all candidates were able to access the process without obstruction. The report does not provide a district-wise breakdown of the nominations, the number of urban local bodies involved, or details of any official decision on the requests for Central forces and CCTV monitoring.
For Andhra Pradesh’s cities and towns, the election process will determine the political leadership of local institutions responsible for municipal administration. The next publicly relevant milestones will be the scrutiny of nominations, decisions on objections, withdrawals and the final list of candidates. The report did not specify the dates for those stages or the polling schedule.
