TIRUPATI: The ruling YSRC has taken an impressive lead of 80000-votes-plus over its nearest rival, the Opposition TDP, in the by-election to the Tirupati (SC reserved) Lok Sabha constituency. YSRC's Dr M Gurumurthy has secured more than 2.04 lakh votes of the 3.64 lakh votes counted so far (at 12.05 pm) recording a vote share of 56.11 percent.
The Opposition TDP is lagging behind with 1.17 lakh votes -- a vote share of 32.29 percent. The BJP, which ended up in fifth position in the 2019 elections, has moved up to third place by securing over 20,000 votes.
In the 2019 elections, the BJP contested without forging any electoral alliance but in the bypolls, it allied with Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party. The bypoll was necessitated by the death of sitting MP of the YSRC, Balle Durga Prasad, who died of COVID-19 last year.
While the YSRC fielded Dr Gurumurthy, the TDP fielded former union minister Panabaka Lakshmi and retired bureaucrat K Ratna Prabha represented the BJP-JSP combine.