Who Are the 12 'Commoners' that YSRCP Has Appointed as ‘Star Campaigners’?

Amaravati: Moving away from the traditional way of political campaigning, the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) has taken an offbeat route to reach out to its vote bank in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Keeping aside popular faces, the party has appointed the common people of Andhra Pradesh as its star campaigners for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

The list of 12 candidates YSRCP has submitted to the Election Commission includes common people, which the party has designated as the party's official 'Star Campaigners' for the upcoming polls.

"Making history in Indian politics, YSRCP names commoners as star campaigners for the 2024 elections," the party said, adding that these 12 star campaigners represented every section of the nearly 5 crore people of Andhra Pradesh.

"It is the YSRCP's belief that every person of the state is their star campaigner. These individuals, hailing from humble backgrounds, will campaign for the party on the ground and help propagate Jagan's message till the last mile," the party said in a statement.

According to the party, most of the 12 voters-turned-YSRCP star campaigners are village-level or ward-based party volunteers in their respective areas. 

Of the 12 star campaigners, eight are party volunteers - including four homemakers, two farmers, one auto driver and one tailor - while the remaining four are former government volunteers.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, YSRCP is contesting alone in all 25 parliamentary constituencies and the 175 seats of the state assembly. It is up against the Congress-led INDI alliance and the NDA, comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), former CM N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party (JSP).

During the 2019 elections, YSRCP registered a landslide victory in Andhra Pradesh, winning 151 of the 175 seats in the Assembly, dethroning the TDP government.

In general elections, the YSRCP won 22 of the 25 seats with a vote share of 49.89 per cent, while the TDP could only manage three constituencies and got 40.19 per cent votes. The two national parties--the BJP and Congress--failed to open their account in the state.