Congress recovers from ‘ground zero,’ retains deposit

TDP wins Nandigama by a massive margin

Vijayawada: The ruling Telugu Desam retained the Nandigama Assembly seat results of which were out on Tuesday. The TD candidate Tangirala Sowmya won the seat by a margin of 74,827 votes against her Congress rival, Bodapati Baburao. She secured 99,748 votes against 24,921 votes polled by the Congress candidate. The TDP maintained lead right from the first round out of the total 15 rounds of counting.

The TD secured 6000 votes to 7000 votes lead in every round, while the Congress secured 900 votes to 2000 votes each round. The Congress, which secured just 1,900 votes in the last general elections, was able to improve its tally.

The party's performance was attributed to the absence of the YSR Congress in the battle. The TDP candidate, Sowmya, emerging out of the counting centre, said she had dedicated her success to her late father, Tangirala Prabhakara Rao, whose death caused the by-election. She also assured the people that she would live up to their expectations.

She also claimed that the election had given her a chance to meet the people and get to know their problems from the grassroots. An engineering graduate, Sowmya and her family members were overjoyed following the record victory. The Minister for Irrigation, D Umamaheswara Rao played key role in the election of Sowmya.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and former minister Devineni Rajasekhar Nehru said "from ground zero in 2014 general election, we have increased our strength and secured deposits.”