YSRCP candidate Y.S. Avinash Reddy wins Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency with a margin of 62,695 votes.
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Two-time YSRCP MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy retained the Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, braving all the criticisms made against him by his political rivals for being an accused in former MP Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy murder case.
Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Y.S. Sharmila Reddy, who expected that the murder case would turn the tide in her favour, was relegated to the third position with 1,41,039 votes. This also dashed the hope of the Congress of winning at least one Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Pradesh.
Right from the first round of counting of votes, Mr. Avinash Reddy established a clear lead over the Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP’s) Chadipiralla Bhupesh Subbarami Reddy, who came second with 5,42,448 votes. The victory margin of Mr. Avinash Reddy, however, slid from 3,80,726 votes in 2019 and 1,90,323 in 2014 to 62,695 this election.
APCC president Y.S. Sharmila and her husband Anil Kumar, offering prayers at the YSR Samadhi at Idupulapaya, before proceeding to the vote counting centre in Kadapa on Tuesday.
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Special Arrangement
Ms. Sharmila, along with her husband M.Anil Kumar, reached the counting centre in Kadapa after offering prayers at the ‘YSR Samadhi’ at Idupulapaya. The Congress raked up the Viveka murder case ahead of the polls, which was expected to work in Ms. Sharmila’s favour, at least in her native Kadapa district, where Vivekananda Reddy was popular as the face of the YS family.
Her war cry ‘Justice for Viveka’ was ably supported in the form of public appearances and press conferences by the slain MP’s daughter Suneetha Narreddy and wife Y.S. Sowbhagyamma, but the voters apparently remained indifferent.
While the Congress expected the voters to prefer Ms. Sharmila to Mr. Avinash as a real representative of the YSR family, the voters took it as a fight between Ms. Sharmila and her brother and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who walked away with the much-sought-after YSR legacy.
Stable vote share of TDP
The TDP, which always has an impressive share of 4 lakh votes in this Lok Sabha constituency, irrespective of the issues confronting the State or the candidates in the fray, gained 1.42 lakh extra votes, obviously denting Mr. Avinash’s vote share.
Even when State bifurcation decimated the Congress and catapulted the YSRCP in the 2014 elections, TDP candidate R. Srinivasa Reddy secured 4.81 lakh votes against YSRCP’s Y.S. Avinash Reddy, who got 6.71 lakh votes. Similarly, when Mr. Avinash Reddy won with a margin of 7.83 lakh votes, riding on the ‘Jagan wave’ in 2019, TDP’s C. Adinarayana Reddy secured 4.02 lakh votes.
The political analysts expected Ms. Sharmila’s foray into the State politics and her fight for Kadapa Lok Sabha seat as the Congress candidate to eat into the YSRCP’s vote share, which has turned out to be far from reality.