Chandrababu Naidu Emerges As Kingmaker With TDP Leading In 14 LS Seats

Early trends show the NDA crossing the majority mark in the Lok Sabha, thanks to the TDP's lead in 14 seats. Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party is sweeping the Andhra Pradesh assembly and Lok Sabha polls as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), positioning Naidu as a potential kingmaker at the national level.

Election officials are counting postal ballots inside a counting centre in Delhi. The NDA is crossing the majority mark with TDP leading in 14 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats it contested out of the 25 available in Andhra Pradesh. The party has garnered widespread support across the state.

Witness the final chapter of the Lok Sabha elections unfold with live vote counts and results. Of the 175 seats in the state assembly, TDP was leading in 99 seats, its ally Jana Sena in 15, and BJP in five, taking the NDA total to 119 seats. In contrast, Jagan Reddy-led YSR Congress Party is bagging only 15 seats.

Chandrababu Naidu was part of the NDA government from 2014 to 2019. He left the NDA before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and joined the Congress-led UPA alliance but lost in both Lok Sabha and assembly polls. After the loss, he distanced himself from the Congress and rejoined the NDA in March 2024, just days before the national elections were announced.

Five years after being jailed by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in a corruption case in November 2023, Naidu has made a strong comeback at the hustings. Political experts believe his arrest generated sympathy for him, and allegations of misgovernance and corruption against YSRCP MLAs worked in favour of the TDP.