HYDERABAD: Though it could not win a single seat in the parliamentary elections in the State, the Praja Rajyam has played spoilsport and tilted the scales in several constituencies in favour of the Congress.
With the actual numbers arriving, the role the PRP played in the elections is becoming clearer. The party had polled about 62 lakh votes (statistics in regard to four constituencies are yet to arrive) out of the 4,87,57,894 polled in all parliamentary constituencies, a share of 12 percent vote.
The party did well in two constituencies securing more than 3 lakh votes. They are Visakhapatnam and Amalapuram. The vote share of the PRP has helped the Congress win those seats by slender margins.
It polled more than two lakh votes in seven constituencies _ Karimnagar, Malkajgiri, Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Guntur and Nandyal. In most of these constituencies the pendulum swung between the Congress and the Telugu Desam and finally tilted in favour of the Congress. In 25 constituencies the party polled more than one lakh votes. However these numbers did not have an impact on the Congress or the Telugu Desam prospects.
Its performance was dismal in three constituencies _ Zaheerabad, Nagarkurnool and Kadapa. It polled just 12,000 votes in Zaheerabad constituency in Medak district.
So far the ECI had not declared the voting figures in the Anakapalli Lok Sabha constituency from where party general secretary and president’s brother-in-law Allu Aravind contested.
An interesting thing in the votes secured by the party is that across the State it polled about one lakh votes except in three constituencies.
If these numbers are divided segment- wise, the party polled about 20,000 votes in each of them, which is about 17 percent of the total votes in the Assembly segment.
If the region-wise performance is analysed, the party secured more than two lakh votes in constituencies in the coastal districts, and more than one lakh votes in constituencies in the other two regions.
The party’s presence in the fray immensely helped the Congress shore up its vote percentage in the coastal region which has 15 parliamentary seats.
It dented the prospects of the Telugu Desam in many constituencies, reducing the TD’s tally to a single digit in the region. It also spoiled the chances of the Left and Telangana Rashtra Samiti.
