The results of the by-election held for the Lok Sabha seat of Tirupati Parliamentary Constituency were declared on Sunday evening by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The notification of the by-election was issued in the third week of March and the last date for filing of nominations was 30th March. The by-election polls were conducted on 17th April without any hiccups. The results of the by-election have been released by the ECI after counting began on Sunday 2nd May at 8AM.
In a unsurprising result, YSR Congress Party’s (YSRCP) M. Gurumoorthy scored a stunning victory over closest rival Panabaka Lakshmi of Telugu Desam Party (TDP). The YSRCP candidate M. Gurumoorthy scored 6, 24, 575 votes and convincingly beat Panabaka Lakshmi of TDP who had the second highest number of votes 3, 53, 792 votes to her name. With this result, the YSRCP has secured victory a gawping margin of 2, 70,783 votes more than their nearest rival. The next closest rival for YSRCP after TDP was touted to be BJP who fielded K. Ratnaprabha for the by-elections. Ratnaprabha only secured 56, 842 votes for BJP. The vote share for the respective parties was as follows – YSRCP – 56.67%, TDP – 32.09%, BJP – 5.17%, INC – 0.87%, CPI (M) – 0.54%, NOTA – 1.41% and Others – 3.26%.
Sponsored LinksThis victory margin of over 2.7 lakh votes more than the opposition is greater than their margin of victory for the same seat during the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. In 2019, YSRCP won the Tirupati Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 2.28 lakh votes which is around 42,000 votes less than their victory margin in the 2021 by-elections. The vote counting process was repeated for 25 rounds with strict Covid-19 protocols in place at the counting stations. The counting stations were 10 halls of the SV University campus situated in Tirupati and 7 halls of the DKW College.
28 candidates contested for the much anticipated by-elections and the 7 assemblu segments that fall under the Tirupati Lok Sabha Parliamentary constituency witnessed a hotly contested battle between the ruling party YSRCP and oppositions of TDP & BJP. There was a voter turnout of nearly 64% on the day of polling. The Tirupati Lok Sabha by-elections were necessitated due to the demise of the then incumbent Lok Sabha seat holder from the YSRCP Balli Durgaprasad back in September of 2020.
The YSRCP had organised public meetings while campaigning for the LS seat by-elections, they had also planned a large public event with Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy scheduled to make an appearance. However, the party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy cancelled his visit due to rising Covid-19 cases in Tirupati. YSRCP candidate continued campaigning on the ground at grass-root level as he personally met and interacted with farmers, agriculture vendors, labourers and other workers. Meanwhile the opposition TDP had tried everything and left no stone turned during campaigning to try and garner the support of the people. TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu was also part of the campaigning bby Panabaka Lakshmi. N. Chandrababu Naidu had made sure he had conducted at least one public meeting in the 7 assembly segments of Tirupati parliamentary constituency to ask for the support of Tirupati’s citizens.
At the end of the day on 2nd May, all of TDP’s efforts seemed to have been laid to waste after they were crushed to a heavy defeat by YSRCP.
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