YSR Cong sweeps AP by-polls; wins 15 assembly seats, 1 LS seat

PTI

Hyderabad, 15 Jun 2012: Riding on a strong sympathy wave, jailed MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s nascent YSR Congress today decimated ruling Congress bagging 15 of the 18 assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat in by-elections in Andhra Pradesh in a showing that could be a political gamechanger in the state.

 

Congress won just two assembly seats, while main opposition Telugu Desam faced a complete rout drawing a blank in a keenly awaited outcome in which the 39-year-old Kadapa MP is fighting a bitter public battle with the Congress over his father and late chief minister Y S Rajsekhara Reddy’s political legacy.

 

In the by-polls, touted as the "semi-finals" ahead of the 2014 Assembly elections, the TRS managed to scrape through with a slender margin of 1,562 votes in Parkal, the lone assembly seat in Telangana region, as it faced a close contest from the nominee of the 15-month-old YSRCP.

 

With today’s results, the Congress saw its majority reduced to just seven seats having 155 MLAs in a House of 294. The YSRCP tally increased to 17. In the final analysis, the Congress lost 14 seats as it held 16 seats, won in 2009. The other two were won by PRP in 2009 but now fell in the YSRC kitty. The TRS gained one more seat Parkal, thanks to the by-election.

 

YSRC’s M Rajamohan Reddy won the Nellore Lok Sabha seat defeating high-profile T Subbirami Reddy of Congress by a margin of 2,91,745 votes. It was also a loss of face for actor-turned-politician K Chiranjeevi as the YSRC wrested the Tirupati Assembly seat he vacated upon his election to Rajya Sabha in March.

 

The victory of YSRC was so resounding that the Congress lost deposits in four constituencies though it managed to win two seats, largely on the caste factor. Lodged in the Chanchalguda prison as an undertrial in the disproportionate assets case against him, Jagan sent out a clear warning signal to the Congress that he will be its nemesis in the next elections as people are solidly behind him.