YSR Cong wins 15 out of 18 seats in AP by-polls

The YSR Congress led by Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy has won 15 out of the 18 Assembly seats, the Congress retained two seats while the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won the Parkal seat by a narrow margin of 1562 votes in the byelections in Andhra Pradesh. 

Riding the crest of a sympathy wave triggered by Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy's arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation on May 27, the YSR Congress wrested 15 seats, many of them with very wide margins. The Congress had to remain content with Ramachandrapuram and Narsapur constituencies in the two Godavari districts while the Telugu Desam drew a blank. 

Attention was rivetted on the outcome in Parkal constituency, lying in the Telangana region, where YSR Congress candidate Ms. Konda Surekha was locked in a neck-and-neck fight with her TRS rival with their fortunes changing after every round of counting from the tenth round onwards. Finally, the TRS broke away in the last two rounds and was victorious by a margin of 1562 votes in the final 19th round. 

Even as details of the counting were pouring in, YSR Congress candidates scored victories with massive margins in several constituencies. Its nominee in Rayachoti G.Srikanth Reddy won by a record 56,890 votes, closely followed by A.Amarnatha Reddy (Rajampet) with 38,252 votes. Similarly, Shoba Nagi Reddy (Allagadda) trounced her nearest Congress rival by 36,796 votes.

In Rayadurg constituency, Kapu Ramachandra Reddy triumphed by 32,474 votes while his counterpart in Anantapur Urban constituency B.Gurunatha Reddy secured 24,701 majority. 

Other winning candidates of the YSR Congress are: M.Sucharita (Prathipadu), Dharmana Krishnadas (Narsannapet), G.Babu Rao (Payakaraopet), Tellam Balaraju (Polavaram), Pinneli Ramakrishna Reddy (Macherla), Balineni Srinivasa Redy (Ongole), Mekapati Chandrasekhara Reddy (Udayagiri), K.Srinivasulu (Railway Kodur) and Y.Chennakesava Reddy (Yemmiganur). 

The Congress candidates – Thota Trimurthulu (Ramachandrapuram) and Kothapalli Subbarayudu (Narsapur) won with comfortable margins over the YSR Congress candidates. In Tirupati, Bhumana Karunakar Reddy (YSR Congress) was leading by 8,251 votes over the Congress rival. 

In Nellore Lok Sabha constituency, the YSR Congress candidate Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy had established a massive lead of over 52,000 votes against his nearest Congress rival T. Subbarami Reddy while the TDP candidate was trailing in the third position. This Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after Mr. Rajamohan Reddy resigned and contested on behalf of the YSR Congress. 

These by-elections were caused by the disqualification of 16 MLA of the Congress and the resignation of Mr. K. Chiranjeevi after his election to the Rajya Sabha. Mrs. Shobha Nagi who was with the Praja Rajyam Party also resigned from the Allagadda seat and switched loyalties to Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy's' party.

A little while after counting of votes began at 8 a.m, it became clear that the YSR Congress candidates would be fruntrunners in a majority of the constituencies as their leads kept increasing by the hour while the party's founder president Mr. Jagan was watching the proceedings on Doordarshan from the Chanchalguda Central Prison. His mother Ms. Vijayamma and sister Ms. Sharmila called on him in jail and were closeted with him for quite some time. 

Talking to reporters later, Ms. Sharmila described the results ast the `people's and God's verdict'. They showed that Mr. jaganmohan Reddy was innocent. The verdict was a clear pointer that people believed Ms. Jaganmohan Reddy was innocent, she said. 

YSR Congress cadres celebrated their party's good performance in the byelections by slogan-shouting and bursting of crackers outside their office on Road No. 45, Jubilee Hills. 

Take By: The Hindu