Telugu Desam Party which has only one member in the 50-member Tirupati Municipal Corporation, as against 48 of the YSR Congress party, won the by-election to the deputy mayor post on Tuesday.
At the election held on Tuesday morning, TDP candidate Munikrishna got elected as the deputy mayor by winning 26 votes, as against 21 votes polled by YSRCP candidate Bhaskar Reddy.
Since the TDP has only one seat in the corporation, it was obvious that 23 members of the YSRCP cross voted for Munikrishna, apart from the votes of two ex-officio members – Jana Sena Party MLA Arani Srinivasulu.
YSRCP’s legislative council member Sipai Subrahmanyam also reportedly cross voted for the TDP candidate.
Both the TDP and the YSRCP have accused each other of resorting to hijacking of the corporators to win the election.
On other hand, the YSRCP alleged that the TDP-led alliance had lured its corporators by instilling fear in them through violence and coercion. YSRCP spokesman T J Sudhakar Babu accused the TDP of blatant misuse of office.
He further claimed that kidnapped corporators, intimidated by TDP and Jana Sena leaders, returned to Bhumana Karunakara Reddy in tears.
