The drama surrounding the Andhra Pradesh by-elections is finally unfolding.
Post YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's
arrest by the CBI in the disproportionate assets case, it wasn't clear whether this would lead to a sympathy wave for Jagan's party or whether it would turn the masses against him. But even as the ruling party openly admitted in the run-up to these much-huped by-elections,
admitted Jagan was a force to reckon with.
Today is perhaps the start of a new chapter in the Andhra Pradesh political tamasha. Out of the 18 Assembly seats that were contested, the YSR Congress Party has won 14, while the ruling party, the Congress, has been left with 2.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi won the only Telangana seat being contested, Parakala, with a sorry margin (a few hundreds of votes). And the TDP and the BJP have put up a no-show.
In Tirupati, the YSRC is leading by 11,948 votes.
The following are the margins by which the YSR Congress has won:
Yemmiganuru - 20,103
Rajampeta - 38,219
Rayadurgam - 32,472
Narsampet - 7312
Allagadda - 36,000
Polavaram - 35,767
Macharla - 15,484
Ananathapuram - 24,993
Payakaraopet - 14,362
Prathipadu - 16,779
Rayachoti - 56,891
Koduru - 31,750
Udayagiri - 30,555
Ongole - 21,171
The Congress' margins are as follows:
Ramachandrapuram - 11,919
Narasapuram - 4,472