Lok Sabha election 2019: Parties brace for tough fight in Andhra’s Narsapuram seat

Narsapuram is one of the two Lok Sabha seats the BJP won in Andhra Pradesh 2014 in alliance with the Telegu Desam Party (TDP). The constituency which is located in West Godavari district had earlier been a Congress stronghold which won the seat five times in a row from 1962 to 1980 before the TDP claimed it four successive times.

In 2014 Gokaraju Gangaraju of the BJP won the seat defeating YSRCP’s Vanka Ravindranath by 85,351 votes. The BJP has dropped Gangaraju for the upcoming election and has replaced him with former Minister Pydikondala Manikyala Rao, who represented Tadepalligudem Assembly constituency.

The YSRCP has named Raghuarm Krishnam Raju as its candidate this time while Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan’s brother Naga Babu has been named the party candidate. The TDP nominated V Sivarama Raju for the seat.

As per the estimates of 2011 census, out of a total population of 1,779,935 in Narsapuram,73.65% is rural and 26.35% is urban population. The Scheduled castes (SC) and Scheduled tribes (ST) ratio is 16.25 and 0.91, respectively out of total population.

Narsapuram Lok Sabha constituency in numbers:

Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Narsapuram

Reservation nature of constituency: General

2019 Candidates: Paidikonda Manikyalarao (BJP); Kanumuri Bapiraju (Congress); Vetukuri Venkata Shiva Rama Raju (TDP); K Raghurama Krishnam Raju (YSR)

Date of Polling: April 11

Sitting MP, Party: Gokaraju Gangaraju, BJP

Winning margin in 2014: 85,351 votes

Runner up name, party: Vanka Ravindranath, YSRC

Number of voters in 2014: 1,325,143

Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 82

Number of polling booths in 2014: 1373

Number of women voters: 672,475