Congress has won its first seat in Andhra Pradesh’s local body by-elections, with candidate Venkat Rao winning Ward 25 in Chirala municipality. The victory came on the day counting finally resumed in the town after a delay caused by a storm.

Polling in several municipalities across the state ended on the 1st of the month, and results were declared on November 3. Chirala was the exception. Heavy rain linked to the storm disrupted the process there, and the State Election Commission postponed the count. Officials took up the votes again on the day the counting resumed.

That delay turned out to be the backdrop for an unexpected result. While the state’s main contest has been a hard-fought battle between the alliance parties and YSRCP, Congress was the party that broke through first in Chirala.

Congress candidate Venkat Rao won Ward 25 in Chirala municipality, opening the party’s account in the local body by-elections.

Venkat Rao’s win is not just a single-seat story. Ward 25 was a multi-party fight, and the margins behind the winner tell their own tale. The BJP candidate came second in the ward, while the YSRCP candidate finished third. For a party that has been trying to rebuild its presence at the grassroots, a second-place finish in a contested ward is a signal that will not go unnoticed by party workers.

The picture in Ward 22 was different, but equally revealing. A TDP candidate took the ward, while Congress finished second and YSRCP slipped to third. In two adjacent contests in the same town, YSRCP was pushed to the back in both wards, a result that will keep attention on how the party’s voter base is holding up in urban areas.

The main takeaway for Chirala is that no single party has dominated the count so far. A victory in one ward, a strong second place in another and a third-place finish for YSRCP in both show a fragmented mandate at the municipal level. Voters in the town appear to be spreading their support in ways that surprised many observers who expected a straight fight between the two main camps.

What happens next in Chirala

Counting in Chirala was still underway at the time of reporting. The process was scheduled to run until 5 pm, which means more ward results could shift the overall picture before the day is over. Until the final numbers are in, the town’s full political map remains unsettled.

Why the Congress win stands out statewide

Across Andhra Pradesh, the local body by-elections have been dominated by the battle between the alliance and YSRCP. In that context, Congress scoring a win in Chirala stands out. It is a reminder that smaller parties can still find openings when the larger contest leaves space for other candidates to make a case with voters.

The result does not mean Congress has suddenly reshaped the state’s politics. A single municipal ward is a small slice of the electoral map. But it does put the party on the board at a moment when the spotlight is on every seat, and it gives Congress workers a result they can point to in the weeks ahead.

The local angle for Andhra Pradesh readers

For residents of Chirala, the story is about more than party flags. The storm that disrupted the count is the reason the result came later than expected, and the wait meant voters in the town had to watch the process unfold on a delayed timeline. Now that the votes are being counted, the people of Ward 25 and Ward 22 have a clear answer on who won their wards, and how the rest of the field finished.

The election also matters for how local government will work in the coming term. Municipal seats decide who speaks for neighbourhoods on civic issues, from roads and drainage to water supply. A mixed set of winners in Chirala means the council will need to find ways to work across different party lines, which is a test that many municipal bodies face after close contests.

Watching the count

The next few hours will show whether Chirala’s early results hold. Political observers will be looking at whether Congress can build on its first win, whether BJP can convert its second-place showing into a stronger base, and whether YSRCP can recover in a town where it finished third in the two wards reported so far.

For now, the headline is simple. Congress has opened its account in the state’s local body by-elections, and Chirala is the place where that happened. The rest of the count will decide how much weight that single win carries.