The ZPTC and MPTC elections have caused a crushing defeat for the TDP. The party performed quite poorly and the results have shown that the TDP has a long distance to cover. The elections were held during the peak of the second wave and the voters were unaffected by the crippling Covid second wave while voting.
But, there is another thing which is worrying Chandrababu Naidu. The politics in AP have always been largely bipolar. Since the early 1990s, the contest has always been close and the difference between the winner and the vanquished has always been less than five per cent. In fact in 2014, when the newly-carved out AP went to polls and the TDP had won, the difference of votes between the TDP and the YSRCP was just 5 lakh. This close contest is a thing of the past now.
In the ZPTC and MPTC elections, the difference between the votes of the winner and the loser was more than 54 per cent. This shows that the YSRCP victory is conclusive. Out of the 1,30,53,282 votes, the YSRCP secured 67.61 per cent votes. The party got 88,25,343 votes, while the TDP got just 29,75,238 votes. The vote percentage of the TDP is just 22.79 per cent. This is stupendous by any standard. In fact, this could be one of the worst drubbings ever.
How will the TDP make up the lost ground? If the same scenario persists, even alliances may not be of any help for the party. As of now, revival looks a distant dream for the TDP. Let’s wait and watch how TDP recovers the lost votes.