Hyderabad: Sending a strong message to the ruling Congress, YS Jaganmohan Reddy, son of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, retained the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat Friday while his mother YS Vijayalaxmi retained the Pulivendula assembly seat with record margins.
Making an impressive electoral debut within three months of its launch, YSR Congress party wrested both the seats from the Congress in the high profile by-elections.
Both Jaganmohan and Vijayalaxmi have thus continued the family tradition of never losing an election.
Riding on a sympathy wave in the first election after the death of YSR in a helicopter crash in 2009, Jaganmohan Reddy retained the Kadapa parliamentary seat with a margin of 543,053 votes.
Jagan, as he is popularly known, polled a whopping 687,068 votes while state Health Minister DL Ravindra Reddy of the Congress got 144,015 votes.
MV Mysoora Reddy of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) finished a poor third with 127,183 votes. Both the Congress and TDP candidates lost their deposits.
The highest victory margin from Kadapa till now was 418,000, secured by YSR in 1991.
The YSR family has been winning this seat since 1989.
Of the 13.29 lakh eligible voters in Kadapa, 10.28 lakh exercised their franchise in the May 8 by-election.
YS Vijayalaxmi bagged Pulivendula assembly seat with a margin of 85,191 votes, breaking the record of her husband who won only two years ago by 68,681 votes.
She polled 114,198 votes while her brother-in-law YS Vivekananda Reddy of the ruling Congress secured only 28,626 votes.
B Tech Ravi of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) finished a poor third with 11,552 votes and lost his deposit.
Vijayamma, as she is popularly known, was elected unopposed in the December 2009 by-elections held four months after YSR`s death.
In Pulivendula, one of the seven assembly segments of Kadapa Lok Sabha seat, 156,276 of the 189,000 electorate voted.
In 2009, Jagan won with a majority of 178,846 votes. He had polled 542,611 votes while Palem Srikanth Reddy of the TDP had secured 363,765 votes.
The YSR family won the Kadapa seat for the record seventh consecutive time and Pulivendula seat for the 11th time. While it won all the previous elections on Congress tickets, this time, the victory was in the form of YSR Congress.
YSR`s younger brother YS Vivekananda Reddy lost the election in Pulivendula despite contesting as Congress candidate. In the past, Vivekananda was elected twice each from Kadapa and Pulivendula.
Jagan and his mother quit the Congress in November last year and also resigned from parliament and assembly, respectively, accusing the leadership of trying to divide their family.
In March, Jagan launched the YSR Congress, promising to work for the implementation of all the welfare schemes launched by his late father.
The result is a huge setback to the ruling Congress party as it had gone all out to defeat Jagan or at least reduce his victory margin. It not only fielded a minister against him but deployed nearly a dozen ministers to run the party campaign.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy himself campaigned in Kadapa. The party also used the services of actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi, whose Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) is set to merge with the Congress.
Former chief minister and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu himself led his party`s campaign. Interestingly, both Congress and TDP targeted Jagan for his alleged corruption.
Both the principal parties questioned Jagan on how he amassed vast assets since his father became chief minister in 2004.
YSR had represented Kadapa constituency for four consecutive terms, while his younger brother YS Vivekananda Reddy won the seat in 1999 and 2004.
The YSR family has been representing the Pulivendula Constituency since 1978. YSR was himself elected six times from the constituency.
IANS
