Lok Sabha election 2019: In Andhra’s Nellore constituency, YRSCP fields ex-TDP man to retain seat

Like many other Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, Nellore also used to be a Congress bastion from where the party had won 12 times before the YSR Congress party or YSRCP gained prominence.

Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, a former member of Congress, led YSRCP to victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha election in Nellore defeating TDP’s Adala Prabhakara Reddy by 13,478 votes. But the sitting MP later fell out with his party chief Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Adala Prabhakara Reddy went on to join the YSRCP which has named him as its candidate from Nellore this time. His main challenger will be Beedha Masthan Rao of the TDP. Rao, a close aide of TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu, is the chairman of BMR Group, a shrimp farming and exports firm. Chevuru Devakumar Reddy is the Congress candidate.

According to the 2011 census, the constituency has a total population of 2060029 out of which 65.73% is rural and 34.27% is urban population. The Scheduled castes (SC) and Scheduled tribes (ST) ratio is 19.23 and 7.87, respectively out of total population.

Nellore Lok Sabha constituency in numbers:

Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Nellore

State: Andhra Pradesh

Date of polling: April 11

2019 candidates: Suresh Reddy Sannapareddy (BJP), Chevuru Devakumar Reddy (Congress), Beedha Masthan Rao (TDP), Adala Prabhakar Reddy (YSRCP)

Sitting MP, Party: Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, YSRCP

Winning margin in 2014: 13,478 votes

Runner up name, party: Adala Prabhakara Reddy, TDP

Number of voters in 2014: 1,550,579

Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 74

Number of polling booths in 2014: 1800

Number of women voters: 809,557