The YSR Congress Party’s camp office in Tirupati erupted in celebrations on Sunday after the party emerged triumphant in the recently held byelection to the Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency.
YSRCP candidate Maddila Gurumoorthy, a physiotherapist by profession scored a thumping victory over TDP candidate and former Union Minister Panabaka Lakshmi. BJP-Jana Sena candidate and former bureaucrat K. Ratna Prabha came in a distant third. Though the YSRCP victory was comprehensive, the margin of victory was much lesser than the ‘five lakh majority’ projected ahead of the polls.
The ruling party’s Chittoor district in-charge and TTD Chairman Y.V. Subba Reddy called the victory a reflection of the people’s support to the Jagan Mohan Reddy regime’s welfare schemes.
“Our Chief Minister has fulfilled 90% of the schemes that were promised in the manifesto, which turned out to be a barometer of his credibility. As a result, people gave their overwhelming support to us,” he said at a press meet, flanked by Deputy Chief Minister K. Narayanaswamy and Panchayat Raj Minister P. Ramachandra Reddy.
Mr. Narayanaswamy attributed the fall in the victory margin to the less-than-expected voter turnout due to the pandemic, as well as opposition leaders rushing to the streets crying foul over ‘non-existent’ fake voters. Rubbishing the ‘moral victory’ claim of the opposition parties, Mr. Ramachandra Reddy said the YSRCP’s winning margin had seen a dip only because of their ‘theatrics’, which, according to him, turned away voters from exercising their franchise.
TDP’s Panabaka Lakshmi said the party, despite failing to achieve victory, had won a place in the hearts of voters who she alleged “had shown the YSRCP its place by reducing the victory margin”.
“Real voters voted for the TDP, but the imported voters carrying fake identity cards did the damage,” she charged. Ms. Lakshmi challenged the YSRCP leaders to swear either at Tirumala or Kanipakam that they had not resorted to unethical means to garner votes. BJP election in-charge and former Minister B. Adinarayana Reddy also accused the ruling party of resorting to malpractices and said the people had clearly rejected the YSRCP, as reflected from the poor victory margin.
“As fake voters turned up, real local voters stayed away,” he alleged.
