Hyderabad, May 12 (IANS): In what is seen as a precursor to results of the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh, the Congress was virtually wiped out in the municipal polls in Seemandhra but won a majority of the seats in Telangana.
The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh appeared to have proved costly for the Congress as it could not win a single municipal corporation or municipality in elections in the 13 districts of Seemandhra.
However, separate statehood to Telangana seems to have benefited the party as it bagged 21 municipalities and emerged as single largest party in two of the three corporations in the polls whose results were declared Monday.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) swept the urban body polls in Seemandhra, winning power in five corporations and 62 municipalities. The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) bagged two corporations and 19 municipalities. It will be hung civic bodies in 11 towns.
Overall, the TDP has bagged 1,436 seats (divisions or wards) and the YSR Congress 853 in Seemandhra. Others, majority of them Independents, have won 120 seats. The Congress finished a poor third with 53 seats.
The Congress drew a blank in two districts and could reach double digit in only three districts.
Barring Chittoor, Kadapa and Kurnool, it was the TDP which dominated Seemandhra.
In Telangana, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) bagged one corporation and eight municipalities. The TDP won three and BJP two municipalities, and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) bagged one each. It was a hung house in 18 towns.
Overall in Telangana, the Congress won 526 seats and the TRS 313. Others, including Independents, bagged 355 seats while the TDP bagged only 162 seats.
The results of most of the 10 municipal corporations and 146 municipalities, which went to polls March 30, were announced.
In Telangana, elections were held for 56 municipalities and three corporations and in Seemandhra for 90 municipalities and seven corporations.
Meanwhile, the state election commission has made all arrangements for counting of votes polled for rural local bodies in two phases last month.