Sportsmen prove it in electoral ‘matches’ too

Andhra Cricket Association members are in a jubilant mood, for its current and past members have excelled in politics by winning both Assembly and Parliament elections.

Leading the team from the front was ACA general secretary Gokaraju Ganga Raju, a septuagenarian, who fought his maiden electoral battle admirably, defeating YSRC candidate Vanka Ravindranath from the Narsapur Lok Sabha constituency with a margin of 85,480 votes.

Former ACA president and TDP candidate Ashok Gajapathy Raju, who contested from the Vizianagaram Lok Sabha constituency for the first time, outsmarted the YSRC’s R.V.G.K. Ranga Rao, better known as Baby Nayana, by a margin of 13,089 votes.

From the Visakhapatnam North Assembly constituency, BJP nominee Vishnu Kumar Raju defeated YSRC’s Ch. Venkat Rao. He is the president of Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association and former ACA vice-president.

ACA Cricket Committee chairman Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, who contested from the Chandragiri Assembly constituency in Chittoor district on YSRC ticket, defeated Gala Aruna Kumari of the TDP by more than 4,600 votes.

Matching cricketers, vote by vote, was a volleyball player and a former international spiker, P.V.G.R. Naidu, popularly known as Ganababu, who won the Visakhapatam West Assembly constituency on TDP ticket. He is currently an administrator with the Vizag District Volleyball Association.