The Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly segment bypolls went off peacefully on Sunday barring a few incidents of clashes.
Contrary to expectations, the poll percentage dipped to 70 per cent in Kadapa against 75 per cent in the 2009 general elections. In Pulivendula, however, a massive voter turnout of 81 per cent, three per cent up from the general elections, was registered till last reports came in.
With a large number of women casting their votes, the trends suggested that the mother-son team of Ms Vijayalakshmi and Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was heading for a landslide win. Adding strength to the prediction was the unusual criticism from the ruling Congress and principal Opposition Telugu Desam that the Election Commission had totally failed to ensure free and fair polling. The bypolls were necessary following the resignations of the Kadapa MP, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy and his mother, Ms Vijayalakshmi, who quit from Pulivendula, after parting ways with the Congress and launching their own political outfit, the YSR Congress Party.
In Pulivendula, there was a fierce electoral battle for the legacy YSR for which his brother and former agriculture minister, Mr Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, also staked claim on behalf of the Congress. The chief electoral officer, Mr Bhanwar Lal, informed that polling in the Kadapa Assembly segment was 57 per cent, Badwel 80 per cent, Kamalapuram 63 per cent, Jammalamadugu 65 per cent, Proddutur 70 per cent and Mydukur 70 per cent. The poll percentage will marginally increase as there were many voters in queues even after the official end of polling at 5 pm.