Andhra Pradesh Assembly Election Results in 1978

The sixth tenure of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, which saw some of the most unstable governance in the state, in so far as the Chief Minister’s post was concerned, was held in 1978. A total of 1,538 contestants were in fray, contesting in 294 Assembly constituencies, out of which 240 seats were for general candidates, 39 seats were reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates and 15 were reserved for Scheduled Tribes candidates.The INC(I) won 175 out of the 289 constituencies in which it contested, thereby winning with a clear majority. A prominent presence in the AP elections was made by the Janata Party (JNP), which contested in the state for the first time, yet managed to win 60 out of the 270 seats in which it contested. K.C. Abraham remained the Governor of the state during this period. Kondaiah Chowdhury remained the Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Vidhan Sabha for a brief span in the beginning of this tenure, before he was replaced by Kona Prabhakara Rao as the Speaker. Rao remained in the post till 1981 and was finally substituted by Tangi Satyanarayana who continued till the end of the sixth tenure till 1983. Successive and quick changes in the post of the Chief Minister were witnessed in this period. Marri Chenna Reddy of the Congress who ruled from 1978 to 1980, was replaced by Tanguturi Anjaiah who remained in office till February 1982. He was later substituted by Bhavanam Venkatarami Reddy and subsequently by K.V. Bhaskara Reddy, both of whom ruled for short interim periods.

Some of the most important legislations initiated during this period of the Congress regime were geared towards accommodating the interests of the workers, labourers of the state on one hand and the Telangana Movement protagonists, on the other. In fact, the successive Chief Ministers in the state during this period, especially Marri Reddy and Anjaiah were the prominent leaders of the Telangana Movement and the Trade Union Movements in the state, respectively.

List of Participating Political Parties in Andhra Pradesh Assembly Election in 1978