Riding high on a sympathy wave triggered by party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s arrest The YSR Congress has won 15 out of the 18 Assembly seats, the Congress retained two seats while the TRS won the Parakala seat by a narrow margin of 1562 votes in the byelections in Andhra Pradesh.

YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s arrested by the CBI 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 TDP drew a blank.

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.