Tirupati: All eyes on YSRCP nominee's majority only

Tirupati: Amid widespread expectations on ruling YSRCP's big win in Tirupati Lok Sabha byelection, all eyes are on the majority by which its candidate Dr M Gurumoorthy is going to win the seat. The byelection was held on April 17, following the vacancy caused with the demise of sitting YSRCP MP B Durga Prasada Rao.

Out of 17,10,698 voters enrolled in the electoral rolls 11,02,068 votes were polled with an average of 64.42 per cent. Counting will be held for four Assembly segments in Nellore and for another three segments in Tirupati while the final result will be declared by the returning officer and Nellore collector K V N Chakradhar Babu.

In all, 28 candidates have contested the election from this reserved constituency. Of them, the main fight took place between YSRCP candidate M Gurumoorthy, TDP candidate Panabaka Lakshmi while BJP candidate K Ratna Prabha who is supported by its alliance partner Jana Sena, Congress candidate Dr Chinta Mohan and CPM candidate Nellore Yadagiri are also in the fray trying their luck.

From the beginning, YSRCP was said to have targeted a majority of 5 lakh votes for its candidate and put in all efforts to achieve this target. The party strongly believed that the welfare schemes of their government and the charisma of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy would fetch them a record majority

TDP held a high voltage campaign exposing the failures of ruling YSRCP. Apart from senior leaders and MPs, the party national president N Chandrababu Naidu and national general secretary N Lokesh camped in the constituency for almost a week and held separate roadshows and public meetings in all seven segments.

BJP also carried out a frontal attack on the YSRCP government by its senior leaders. Even the party national president JP Nadda campaigned at Naidupet while its alliance partner Pawan Kalyan participated in Tirupati. The party's state co-incharge Sunil Deodhar even levelled a serious allegation against YSRCP candidate saying that he is a Christian and having no right to contest from SC reserved seat.

Congress state president S Sailaja Nath and working president N Tulasi Reddy campaigned in favour of party nominee Chinta Mohan. CPM and CPI leaders like K Rama Krishna, K Narayana, P Madhu and others participated in the campaign in support of Nellore Yadagiri.

Opposition parties levelled serious allegations of rigging by the YSRCP on the polling day. BJP and TDP candidates have even approached the High Court seeking repolling in Tirupati Assembly segment but the court gave a go ahead for the counting.

Against this backdrop, the ruling party leaders and workers are expecting that it will be a cakewalk for their candidate Gurumoorthy. They are expecting that he will win by a margin of 5 lakh plus votes easily. Though the exit polls also revealed the same predictions, the exact votes and vote share each candidate will be getting is to be seen on Sunday.