Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has finally announced its six candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections in Andhra Pradesh. According to the seat-sharing arrangement with the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party (JSP), the saffron party is contesting Aruku or Araku, Anakapalli, Narasapuram, Rajahmundry, Tirupati and Rajampet constituencies in Andhra Pradesh. The TDP will contest 17 seats while the JSP will field candidates in Machilipatnam and Kakinada. The party has decided to give tickets to Kothapalli Geetha (Araku), CM Ramesh (Anakapalli), Srinivas Verma (Narasapuram), state BJP chief Daggubati Purandeswari (Rajahmundry), Varaprasad Rao Velagapalli (Tirupati) and former Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy (Rajampet).
All 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra Pradesh will go for a vote on May 13 in the fourth phase along with the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections 2024. A forensic analysis of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections for these six seats shows that the BJP is likely to win the Anakapalli, Narasapuram and Rajahmundry constituencies if the TDP-JSP combo can transfer their votes successfully to BJP candidates. However, the BJP may lose Araku, Tirupati and Rajampet as these three are tough seats for the party to crack even when there is a 100 per cent vote transfer of the TDP and the JSP. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) won all six seats allotted to the BJP this time. The YSRCP received more than 50 per cent votes in Rajampet (57.27%), Tirupati (54.91%) and Aruku (52.14%) constituencies and even the combined vote share of the TDP-BJP-JSP alliance may not save the saffron party in these seats. However, the TDP-BJP-JSP vote share was more than that of the YSRCP in Rajahmundry, Anakapalli and Narasapuram constituencies.
What happened in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections in these 6 seats?
Rajahmundry: YSRCP's Margani Bharat won the Rajahmundry constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections with a margin of 1,21,634 votes. Bharat was polled 5,82,024 votes with a vote share of 46.54%. He defeated TDP candidate Maganti Roopa who got 4,60,390 votes (36.82%). JSP's Akula Satyanarayana stood third with 1,55,807 votes (12.46%) while BJP candidate Paravastu Satya Gopinath Das secured just 12,334 votes (0.99%). So, the combined strength of the TDP-JSP-BSP was ahead of the YSRCP by 46,507 votes. (TDP-JSP-BJP: 6,28,531 votes or 50.27% and YSRCP: 5,82,024 or 46.54%).
Anakapalli: YSRCP's Dr Beesetti Venkata Satyavathi won the Anakapalli constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections with a margin of 89,192 votes. Satyavathi was polled 5,86,226 votes with a vote share of 47.26%. She defeated TDP candidate Adari Anand Kumar who got 4,97,034 votes (40.07%). JSP's Chintala Partha Sarathi stood third with 82,588 votes (6.66%) while BJP candidate Dr Gandi Venkata Satyanarayana Rao received just 13,276 votes (1.07%). So, the combined strength of the TDP-JSP-BJP was ahead of the YSRCP by 6,672 votes. (TDP-JSP-BJP: 5,92,898 votes or 47.80% and YSRCP: 5,86,226 or 47.26%).
Narasapuram: YSRCP's Kanumuru Raghu Rama Krishna Raju won the Narasapuram constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections with a margin of 32,676 votes. Raju was polled 4,49,234 votes with a vote share of 38.10%. He defeated TDP candidate VV Siva Rama Raju who got 4,16,558 votes (35.33%). JSP's Nagababu Konidela stood third with 2,50,802 votes (21.27%) while BJP candidate Pydikondala Manikyala Rao got just 12,414 votes (1.05%). So, the combined strength of the TDP-JSP-BJP was comfortably ahead of the YSRCP by 2,30,540 votes. (TDP-JSP-BJP: 6,79,774 votes or 57.65% and YSRCP: 4,49,234 or 38.10%).
Araku: YSRCP's Goddeti Madhavi won the Araku constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections with a margin of 2,24,089 votes. Madhavi was polled 5,62,190 votes with a vote share of 52.14%. She defeated TDP candidate Kishore Chandra Deo who got 3,38,101 votes (31.36%). JSP's Gangulaiah Vampuru got 42,794 votes (3.97%) while BJP candidate Dr Kosuri Kasi Viswanadha Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Reddy received just 17,867 votes (1.66%). So, the YSRCP was ahead of the combined strength of the TDP-JSP-BJP by 1,63,428 votes. (YSRCP: 5,62,190 or 52.14% and TDP-JSP-BJP: 3,98,762 votes or 36.99%).
Tirupati: YSRCP's Balli Durga Prasad Rao won the Tirupati constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections with a margin of 2,28,376 votes. Rao was polled 7,22,877 votes with a vote share of 54.91%. He defeated TDP candidate Panabaka Lakshmi who got 4,94,501 votes (37.56%). There was no JSP candidate in the constituency as the party backed the BSP candidate while BJP candidate Bommi Srihari Rao received just 16,125 votes (1.22%). So, the YSRCP was ahead of the combined strength of the TDP-JSP-BJP by 2,12,251 votes. (YSRCP: 7,22,877 or 54.91% and TDP-JSP-BJP: 5,10,626 votes or 38.78%).
Rajampet: YSRCP's PV Midhun Reddy won the Rajampet constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections with a margin of 2,68,284 votes. Reddy was polled 7,02,211 votes with a vote share of 57.27%. He defeated TDP candidate DA Sathya Prabha who got 4,33,927 votes (35.39%). JSP's Syed Mukarram stood third with 33,986 votes (2.77%). So, the YSRCP was ahead of the combined strength of the TDP-JSP-BJP by 2,34,298 votes. (YSRCP: 7,02,211 or 57.27% and TDP-JSP-BJP: 4,67,913 votes or 38.16%).
The tripartite alliance will also compete in the 2024 Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections. According to the seat-sharing agreement, the TDP will fight 144 seats, the JSP will field 21 candidates, and the BJP will contest only 10 constituencies.
