The ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh Tuesday retained the Nandigama assembly seat by a huge majority.Riding on a sympathy wave, TDP candidate T. Soumya defeated Babu Rao of the Congress by 74,827 votes.Soumya, daughter of T. Prabhakar Rao, whose death caused the byelection, secured 99,748 votes of the 1,27,434 votes polled.The Congress finished a poor second with 24,921 votes. As many as 1,177 voters chose None Of The Above (NOTA) option.In the bypoll held Sep 13, 70 percent of 1.84 lakh voters had cast their ballot in the constituency in Krishna district in coastal Andhra Pradesh. The seat is reserved for the Scheduled Castes.
In the general elections held in May, Prabhakar Rao had defeated M. Jagan Mohan Rao of the YSR Congress by 5,074 votes.This time, the YSR Congress did not field it candidate, respecting the tradition of not fielding a candidate against family members of a deceased public representative.However, the Congress, which drew a blank in the general elections, contested the bypoll. Two independents were also in the fray.Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said the TDP's victory reflected the performance of the government in 100 days.He said people voted for his party as it succeeded in controlling price rise and ensure round-the-clock electricity supply.The TDP had bagged 102 seats in the 175-member assembly in the elections held in May.