YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) candidates on Wednesday scored victories in both the wards of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) that went for bypolls.
From Ward 61, Konathala Sudha, daughter of Dadi Surya Kumari who died of a massive heart attack three days after being elected earlier this year, defeated her nearest rival Mulampaka Nagaveni of the Jana Sena Party with a comfortable margin of 2,028 votes. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) did not field any candidate from this ward.
Ward 31 saw a close contest between arch-rivals YSRCP and TDP, with the ruling party candidate J. Bipin Kumar Jain wresting the seat from the TDP’s Vanapalli Gayathri Phani Kumari with a slender margin of just 59 votes.
While Mr. Bipin Kumar garnered 3,087 votes, Ms. Gayathri secured 3,028 votes. Ms. Gayathri is the widow of TDP corporator Vanapalli Ravi Kumar who died in April this year about a month after being elected.
Speaking to reporters after declaration of the results, an emotional Ms. Gayathri said, “The results indicate that my husband is still alive in the hearts of people of the ward.”
For Ms. Sudha too, it was an emotional victory as she retained the seat that was won by her mother.
The total electorate in Ward 31 is 15,835 that includes 7,754 males, 8,080 females and one in the Others category. The total electorate in Ward 61 is 14,089 that includes 6,931 males, 7,156 females and two in the others category.
The polling for both the wards was held on November 15, and the polling percentage was moderate in both the wards, with Ward 31 recording a turnout of 41.53% and Ward 61 recording a turnout of 57.53%. The total votes polled in 61 was 8,106 and in 31 it was 6,595.
Both the TDP and YSRCP campaigned hard in Ward 31, as it was a battle of prestige for both political parties.
It was a close finish and 31 NOTA votes, 90 rejected votes and JSP into the electoral base with 359 votes, had become the deciding factor, said a senior TDP leader.
In Ward 61, the votes under NOTA were 127 and 103 were rejected.