In what can only be described as a landslide victory, Mr Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy and his mother Ms Vijayamma have posted the highest winning margins in the prestigious by-elections in Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly constituencies respectively.
Mr Jaganmohan Reddy, president of the newly floated YSR Congress party, has retained the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat with a record winning margin of 5,45,501 votes over his nearest rival, the Congress’ Dr D.L. Ravindra Reddy.
Mr Jaganmohan Reddy has broken the record of his late father, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who won from the same seat in 1991 with a margin of 4,18,000 votes against the Telugu Desam’s C. Ramachandraiah.
Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s record margin of over 5,45 lakh votes is the highest winning margin in the 15th Lok Sabha and the third highest winning margin in the history of the Lok Sabha.
Ms Y.S. Vijayamma won the Pulivendula Assembly seat by beating the Congress party candidate and her brother-in-law, Mr Vivekananda Reddy by a margin of 85,373 votes. She too broke the record of her late husband who won the seat in 2009 with a margin of 68,681 votes.
The result, overwhelmingly in support of the YSR family, is seen as proof of the continued support of the people of Kadapa for the late patriarch and their chance to show their gratitude for a native son who rose to be Chief Minister of the State. The magnitude of the ‘vote tsunami’ in favour of the mother-son duo was not expected by either the Congress or the Telugu Desam. Jaganmohan Reddy got nearly 70 per cent of the polled votes.
The Telugu Desam’s Dr M.V. Mysoora Reddy, who had hoped to benefit from the split in the Congress vote on account of Dr Ravindra Reddy and Mr Jaganmohan Reddy, and confident of a TD vote bank of over 3,80,000 votes did not expect that he would lose his deposit and also the traditional TD vote banks in Jammalamadugu and Proddutur. The victory of Mr Jaganmohan Reddy is a slap in the face of Dr Ravindra Reddy.
who had challenged the leadership of Mr Jaganmohan Reddy and made some rather nasty comments on the late YSR. In the Mydukur assembly segment represented by Mr Ravindra Reddy himself, people voted overwhelmingly for Mr Jaganmohan Reddy whose winning margin here was more than 50,000.
The overwhelming nature of the defeat has been a shock to the ruling Congress establishment which has strained every nerve to win and had drafted more than a dozen ministers, including the Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, to campaign. Though it may not have expected to actually win, it was hoping to reduce Mr Jaganmohan Reddy’s victory margin to less than the 1,74,000 votes by which he won last time.
Mr Vivekananda Reddy, who got 28,626 votes in the Pulivendula assembly election, has retained his deposit but the Telugu Desam’s candidate, popularly called ‘B.tech’ Ravi, got only 12,051 votes and lost his deposit.