3 major communities have equal influence

Srikakulam : Three major communities in the district, Kalinga, Turpu Kapu and Polinati Velama, share the major chunk of votes in Narasannapeta Assembly constituency. This constituency consists of Narasannapeta, Polaki, Jalumuru and Saravakota mandals.

In Narasannapeta mandal, Polinati Velama voters are in significant numbers in Jalumuru and Polaki mandals followed by Kalinga and Turpu Kapu voters. In Saravakota mandal, there is a mixed composition of voters belonging to Polinati Velama, Turpu Kapu, Kalinga and Scheduled Tribes (ST) voters.

From this seat, it was Hanumanthu Satyannarayana Dora from Kalinga community who got elected as first MLA by defeating Kisan Mazdur Praja Party (KMPP) candidate in 1952. In 1978 elections, Congress I candidate Dola Seetharamulu Naidu was elected by defeating Janatha Party candidate Simma Jagannadham. Both belong to Turpu Kapu community.

In all other elections, leaders of Polinati Velama community were elected. Minister for revenue, Dharmana Prasada Rao was the Congress MLA in 1989 and 1999. Later in 2004 elections, he shifted to Srikakulam Assembly constituency and his elder brother, Dharmana Krishna Das was introduced to politics and won twice 2004 and 2009 from here.

Krishna Das joined YSRCP in 2012 and resigned from Assembly. As a result, there was a byelection and he again won the polls. But in 2014, Das lost to TDP candidate Baggu Ramana Murthy. But Krishna Das bounced back in 2019 elections and was made the Deputy CM.