VISAKHAPATNAM/TIRUPATI: In a setback to the ruling YSRC, TDP won the North Andhra Graduate MLC seat as its candidate, Vepada Chiranjeevi Rao, secured the required 94,510 votes in second preferential counting on Friday. At the end of eighth round of first preference vote, Chiranjeevi was leading with 27,350 votes against YSRC candidate Sitamraju Sudhakar.
The TDP candidate polled 82,956 votes, but was 11,551 votes short of the magic figure. Following this, second preference counting was taken up.With 786 second preference votes from 32 independents, 3,000 from BJP’s candidate PVN Madhav and 8,000 votes from PDF (Progressive Democratic Front) pick Ramaprabha, Chiranjeevi was declared winner.
Elections to five MLC seats under Teachers and Graduates quota were held on March 13 and the counting began on Thursday.Election to North Andhra Graduates constituency was a keenly fought battle as senior YSRC leaders terming it a semi-final and even appealed to the people to ‘gift’ the seat to the Chief Minister.“The outcome clearly indicates the beginning of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s downfall,” TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh remarked.
Asserting that the election result was proof that voters were against the government, Former minister and TDP MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao said, “While YSRC announced its candidate six months ago, the TDP declared its nominee only on February 1. The mandate is against Vizag being announced as executive capital.” Stating that the same trend would continue till the 2024 polls, Ganta said the poll percentage of YSRC slumped to 30% from 50% in the last election.
On the other hand, the YSRC maintained that the outcome will have no impact on the government. NREDCAP chairman and YSRC leader KK Raju said people should not be misled by detractors of North Andhra.
“Development of the region is possible only with Chief Minister Jagan,” he asserted.It may be noted that the TDP had initially announced GVMC (Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporator) corporator Chinna Kumari Lakshmi as its candidate, but replaced her with Chiranjeevi in the last minute.With 37 candidates in the fray, the main contest was between YSRC, TDP, BJP and PDF.
‘Economy Chiranjeevi’: A political novice
The choice of Chiranjeevi has puzzled many as he is a political novice. Popularly known as ‘economy Chiranjeevi’, he worked as a teacher in a renowned coaching centre.A number of students trained by him have excelled in various fields and hold key posts.He visited all 35 Assembly segments in as many days and struck a chord with many people.Meanwhile, the YSRC was also trailing in Prakasam-Nellore-Chittoor Graduate seat, while the YSRC-supported candidates bagged two MLC seats under teachers quota. The ruling party is poised to win the Kadapa-Anantapur-Kurnool Graduates constituency.
Tight fight in Kadapa region
In combined Prakasam-Nellore-Chittoor Graduates Constituency, TDP candidate, Kancharla Srikanth, is leading in all six rounds with 1,12,514 votes as against 85,252 votes polled by YSRC’s Pernati Shyam Prasad Reddy. In East Rayalaseema Graduate seat, a total number of 2,48,360 votes were polled.
Although the YSRC tried to show its might by winning both Graduates and Teachers MLC seats in the region, the ruling party failed to attract graduate voters, but bagged the Teachers Legislative Council seat in East Rayalaseema as well as Anantapur-Kadapa-Kurnool.
Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, regional coordinator for the party in Rayalaseema, monitored the election campaign.For Kadapa-Kurnool-Anantapur Graduates constituency, a tight fight was witnessed between the YSRC and the TDP. By the end of eighth round, YSRC’s V Ravindra Reddy was leading by over 1,000 votes against TDP’s B Ramgopal Reddy.