The YSRCP is heading towards an impressive victory in 11 of the 15 Assembly constituencies in the district, up from its earlier three seats.
Results are yet to be officially declared as counting is expected to go on till late in the evening at the A.U. Engineering College Grounds.
The TDP was in for a shock with several prominent faces performing poorly. Panchayati Raj Minister Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu and former Minister Kidari Sravan Kumar were trailing behind their YSRCP rivals. Mr. Sravan Kumar had ceased to be a Minister earlier this month as he was not a Member of the Legislative Assembly for a period of six months.
TDP heavyweight Ganta Srinivasa Rao is locked in a keen battle with K.K. Raju of YSRCP in Visakhapatnam North, where incumbent MLA P. Vishnu Kumar Raju of BJP was reduced to third place.
The TDP is ahead in Visakhapatnam East, West and South with sitting MLAs V. Ramakrishnababu, P.G.V.R. Naidu and Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar leading.
Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan, who contested from Gajuwaka, was trailing behind his YSRCP rival Tippala Nagi Reddy.
The YSRCP is doing well in rural and tribal areas. Muttamsetti ‘Avanthi’ Srinivasa Rao with 75,299 votes is leading in Bhimili constituency against his TDP rival and former MP Sabbam Hari who polled 63,035 votes.
Karanam Dharmasri (Chodavaram), sitting MLA Budi Mutyala Naidu (V. Madugula), Gudivada Amarnath (Anakapalle), Annamreddi Adeepraj (Pendurthi), U.V. Ramana Murthy Raju (Yelamanchili), Golla Babu Rao (Payakaraopeta), Petla Umasankar Ganesh (Narsipatnam), K. Bhagyalakshmi (Paderu) and Chetti Phalguna (Araku), all from YSRC, are leading over their rivals at the time of this report.
In some of the constituencies, senior TDP leaders are staring at defeat. Former minister Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy fared badly against a young newcomer Adeepraj in Pendurthi. Ms. Bhagyalakshmi and Mr. Phalguna, both newcomers, are set to taste electoral success.
BJP fails to make impact
Mr. Babu Rao is all set to win from Payakaraopeta constituency.
The BJP failed to make any impact, polling fewer votes than actor Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party in many of the constituencies.
