The 2009 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election took place in April 2009, concurrently with the

2009 Indian general election General elections were held in India in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009 to elect the members of the fifteenth Lok Sabha. With a registered electorate of 716 million and a turnout of 417 million voters, it was the l ...

. The elections were held in the state in the first phase on 16 April 2009 and the second phase on 23 April 2009. The results were declared on 16 May 2009 The incumbent

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

retained power in the

United Andhra Pradesh United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

State Assembly lower house, though with a reduced majority. The Congress Legislature party re-elected incumbent

Chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy as its leader thus re-nominating him to the post.

Previous Assembly

In the 2004 Andhra Pradesh Assembly election, Congress had swept the state, winning 185 of the 294 seats in the Assembly. The Congress' pre-poll alliance partners,

Telangana Rashtra Samithi The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (; BRS), formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi ( TRS), is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in the state of Telangana and currently the primary opposition party in the state. It was founde ...

(TRS) and Left parties also did well, winning 15 and 26 seats respectively, taking the

United Progressive Alliance The United Progressive Alliance (UPA; Hindi: Saṁyukta Pragatiśīl Gaṭhabandhan) was a Political group, political alliance in India led by the Indian National Congress. It was formed after the 2004 Indian general election, 2004 general ele ...

(UPA) tally to 226. As the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy was invited to form the Government by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Surjit Singh Barnala Surjit Singh Barnala (21 October 1925 – 14 January 2017) was an Indian politician who served as the 11th chief minister of Punjab state from 1985 to 1987. Following that he served as the governor of Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Andhra Prades ...

. As expected, the Government lasted the full term of 5 years and the tenure of the Legislative Assembly was due to expire on 30 May 2009. The

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...

(ECI) decided to hold the Assembly elections along with the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. The election in each Assembly constituency (AC) was held in the same phase as the election to the corresponding Parliamentary constituency that the AC falls under.

Background

After the

2008 Lok Sabha vote of confidence The United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the governing alliance in India elected in 2004, faced its first confidence vote in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament) on 22 July 2008 after the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Fron ...

, the Left Front withdrew support to the Congress in the state as well.

Telugu Desam Party The Telugu Desam Party (TDP; ) is an Indian regional political party primarily active in the Federated state, states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It was founded by Telugu cinema, Telugu matinée idol N. T. Rama Rao (NTR) on 29 March 1982 a ...

(TDP) and TRS then joined the Left parties as part of the national Third Front. In Andhra Pradesh, this alliance called themselves the '' Maha Kutami'' or "Grand Alliance" against what they called the "corrupt Congress" and "communal BJP". However, after the elections in Andhra Pradesh were completed, but before the counting of votes, TRS switched allegiance to the NDA and subsequently denied the fact that it joined NDA and clarified that they only extended the support.

Schedule

Parties and alliances

Results

Vote share

Seat share

Results by party

Results by district

Results by constituency

Government formation

Despite losing their alliance partner after voting and fighting

anti-incumbency Anti-incumbency is sentiment in favor of voting out incumbent politicians, for the specific reason of being incumbent politicians. It is sometimes referred to as a "throw the bums out" sentiment. Periods of anti-incumbent sentiment are typically c ...

in the state, Congress managed to get the majority in the 294-member Assembly with 157 seats. Analysis of the results showed that the split of the anti-Congress votes between the Maha Kutami and actor-turned-politician

Chiranjeevi Konidela Chiranjeevi (born Konidela Sivasankara Varaprasad; 22 August 1955) is an Indian actor, philanthropist and former politician known for his work in Telugu cinema. Known as the "Mega Star", he is widely regarded as one of the most succe ...

's newly formed

Praja Rajyam Party The Praja Rajyam Party () was a political party in India. Formation The first public meeting of the party was held by Chiranjeevi on 26 August 2008, at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. Praja Rajyam means people's rule in Telugu language, Telugu. H ...

(PRP) helped increase the Congress overall seat count. The incumbent

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy was sworn in for a second term on 20 May 2009. His council of 35 ministers were sworn in by

N. D. Tiwari a few days later on 25 May 2009.

Notes

References

{{Indian elections State Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh 2000s in Andhra Pradesh 2009 State Assembly elections in India April 2009 in India