KURNOOL: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had won the Nandyal byelection in Andhra Pradesh with an overwhelming majority of 27,466 votes on Friday, giving a boost the mid-term optimism of the government headed by chief minister Chandrababu Naidu.
The ruling party candidate Bhuma Brahmananda Reddy secured a total 97,076 votes, while the opposition YSR Congress candidate Silpa Mohan Reddy took 69,610 votes.
Right from the commencement of counting this morning, the TDP candidate maintained a lead in every round, except the 16th round, where it lagged behind a bit.
YSR Congress leaders and supporters, who had been confident of bagging the Assembly seat, were a disappointed lot as counting continued round after round. The party’s candidate Silpa Mohan Reddy emerged from the counting centre after the 10th round, looking despondent and resigned to the verdict.
When the final verdict was out, celebrations in the TDP camp hit the roof, In Nandyal and Allagadda, where the Bhuma family has much influence, their followers and TDP cadres came out on the streets to celebrate. Sweets were distributed and crackers burst.
Similar scenes of celebration were witnessed at TDP offices across the state and also at the chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s residence in Undavalli, near Vijayawada.
Tweeting after the Nandyal result, Chandrababu Naidu thanked the people of Nandyal for showing their trust in the TDP’s governance.
“Will create a Smart Nandyal by following our motto 'People First,'” he said.
“The People have endorsed our development agenda, upheld values in public life. Rejected and punished negative politics & disorderliness, he tweeted.
Tourism minister Bhuma Akhila Priya said the result was she had predicted “As I predicted, we won with a good majority. The people have voted for development of Nandyal, which was my father Bhuma Nagi Reddy’s wish,” she said.
YSR Congress leaders including candidate Silpa Mohan Reddy attributed the TDP victory to voer bribing and sympathy for the late Bhuma Nagi Reddy.
Speaking to mediapersons after the poll verdict was out, YSRC chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy thanked the people for casting their vote in spite of overwhelming “suppression” by the ruling party, which misused its power, and distributed Rs 200 crore cash and threatened voters that welfare benefits would be stopped to them if they did not vote for the ruling party.
He thanked the YSRC cadres in Nandyal for staying steadfast and not losing heart under pressure.