The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Congress wrests Nizamabad LS seat with good margin

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 14, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Congress wrests Nizamabad LS seat with good margin

By Our Staff Reporter

NIZAMABAD, MAY 13. The Congress wrested the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat with a thumping majority when its candidate and non-resident Indian, Madhu Yaskhi, defeated his nearest Telugu Desam Party rival, Syed Yusuf Ali, by a record margin of 1,37,932 votes.

Mr. Yaskhi surged ahead of his TDP rival right from the first round and his lead continued to swell. The TDP candidate took a lead in Jukkal constituency for some time. He led from the third to seventh round in Jukkal and sixth to eighth rounds in Balkonda segment. Of the 7,82,379 votes polled, the Congress candidate secured 4,42,142 votes as against the tally of 3,04,211 votes polled by the TDP nominee. The clean sweep by the Congress-TRS combine in the nine Assembly segments in the district of which two segments - Kamareddy and Yellareddy - are in Medak LS, was reflected in the majority secured by the Congress and the TRS candidates.

The Bahujan Samaj Party nominee, Yedla Ramu, polled 21,133 votes and another independent candidate, Baisa Ramdas, managed to get 12,893 votes. What surprised everybody was the margin of victory as the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti candidates from the seven segments of the constituency secured margins of more than 75,000 votes. The majority of 1.37 lakh votes clearly proves that there was heavy cross voting from the rival parties.

The seat was represented by the TDP leader, Gaddam Ganga Reddy, in the last Lok Sabha. An analysis of the voting pattern revealed that Mr. Yaskhi secured the highest lead of 32,778 votes in Nizamabad Assembly segment represented by the APCC chief, D.Srinivas. Of the 1,15,433 votes polled, the Congress candidate secured 72,471 votes against the TDP's 39,693 votes. Bodhan was another segment which fetched an impressive margin for the Congress. Mr. Yaskhi, secured 29,611 votes lead over his TDP rival of the 1,04,187 votes polled in the segment.

TDP's rout complete

The Telugu Desam Party's rout in the district was complete after its candidate, Syed Yusuf Ali, lost the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 1,37,931 votes to a political novice. The Congress-TRS combine, which dealt a crushing blow to the TDP in the Assembly elections by wresting all the nine seats continued its impressive show in the Parliamentary election too. The record margin secured by Mr. Yaskhi surpassed all expectations, which also happens to be the highest majority for any candidate in Nizamabad LS in the last 13 Parliamentary elections.

This is an achievement for a candidate, who had gone through a lot of controversy over his selection within the Congress party. Accusations flew thick and fast that he had managed the seat by paying crores of rupees to a certain Congress leader. This allegation was also made by the former Chief Minister and TDP supremo, N.Chandrababu Naidu, during his election campaign. A section of the Congress leaders raised a banner of revolt and quit the party. Undeterred by the developments, the Congress candidate went ahead with his campaign.

Notwithstanding the `outsider' tag, Mr. Yaskhi could convince the electorate to give him a chance to serve the people. The anti-incumbency factor coupled with the dejection of the voters with the TDP rule seemed to have worked wonders. A major factor, which emerged out of today's result was that there was heavy cross voting in favour of the Congress candidate.

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