Riding on the crest of a sympathy wave, YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) candidate Mekapati Vikram Reddy emerged victorious in the byelection to the Atmakur Assembly constituency in SPSR Nellore district by a margin of 82,742 votes, as the counting of votes polled on Thursday was taken up on Sunday.
The YSRCP candidate, brother of former MLA and Industries and Information Technology Minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy, whose untimely death necessitated the bypoll, polled 1,02,074 votes, an increase in the victory margin by over 60,000 when compared to 2019.
BJP, others lose deposit
His nearest Bharatiya Janata Party rival G. Bharat Kumar Yadav, who secured 19,332 votes, lost his security deposit as also the 12 other candidates who were in the fray.
In the first round itself, Mr. Vikram Reddy established a comfortable lead of over 5,000 votes and there was no looking back from then on as he improved the lead in each of the next 19 rounds.
But for the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate who polled 4,897 votes all other candidates got less than NOTA (None of the Above)'s count of 4,179 votes in the bypoll.
The bypoll verdict is a setback to the BJP, which has been aiming to emerge as an alternative to the YSRCP in 2024 as the drubbing came after the defeat in the Tirupati Lok Sabha and Badvel Assembly byelections.
Two-time MLA Goutham Reddy had won the seat by a margin of over 22,000 votes in 2019 and more than 31,000 votes in 2014.
Jagan thanks voters
Welcoming the people's verdict, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy tweeted ''in support of the good done by the government, as a tribute to Goutham... thank you by name to every brother, every sister, every friend, every grand mother, every grand father... who blessed Vikram with a huge majority of 83,000 votes in Atmakur''.
Emerging out of the counting hall at Andhra Engineering College after getting the election certificate from District Joint Collector and Returning Officer M.N. Harendhra Prasad, Mr. Vikram Reddy said the welfare schemes implemented by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government on a scale never seen before ensured his victory in the bypoll with a huge majority. He would work to realise the unfulfilled welfare and development initiatives of his brother in Atmakur, he promised.
Former YSRCP Parliamentary Party leader Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, father of Goutham Reddy, said Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, endowed with high leadership qualities, would become the longest serving Chief Minister, like Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, by overcoming any little shortcomings in governance and continuing with the confidence of all sections of people.
The Telugu Desam Party kept away from the byelection following a convention not to contest against the family member of a deceased sitting MLA in a bypoll.
