YSRCP’s KK Raju demands repolling in Visakhapatnam North

The voters of Andhra Pradesh have given a clear mandate to the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP. Winning 151 of the total 175 Assembly seats, the party has swept the polls in Andhra Pradesh, leaving the oppositions with plenty to think about. Telugu Desam Party (TDP), on the other hand, has been restricted to a meagre 23 seats, thereby witnessing one of its biggest defeats in the polls. In Visakhapatnam district too, the party has been defeated convincingly in 11 of the 15 Assembly seats. While the Chandrababu Naidu-led party has registered victories in the East, West and South constituencies of Visakhapatnam city, its fate in Visakhapatnam North hangs by a thin margin, with the result put on hold.

The counting day saw TDP’s Ganta Srinivasa Rao take on YSRCP’s KK Raju in a cliffhanger. With both candidates staying in the race until the last round of counting, estimating the winner wasn’t an easy job. However, at the end of the counting process, former HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao stood ahead of KK Raju by a margin of about 1800 votes. Raju and YSRCP though have cried foul. Alleging discrepancies in counting at certain polling stations in the constituency, the YSRCP members stated that there was no match between the numbers registered through VVPATs and EVMs. They further demanded the District Collector to conduct re-polling at five booths numbered 42, 44, 162, 144 and 259 in the constituency.

With the concerned officials yet to make an announcement on the same, it remains to be seen who will run away with the result in Visakhapatnam North.