Parties are getting up for the prominent Vizag Lok Sabha seat

Given the high importance of the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat in the State, the opposition parties and the governing YSRC are willing to do whatever it takes to win.

Through the acquisition of four of the seven Assembly seats in the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency, the TDP might put an end to the YSRC’s electoral tsunami in 2019. But with only 4,000 votes separating them, the YSRC’s candidate, MVV Satyanarayana, went on to win the Lok Sabha seat.

The YSRC is now working nonstop to win back the Lok Sabha seat in the next elections. MVV has moved to the Visakhapatnam East Assembly seat as part of its effort to challenge TDP’s Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu.

The YSRC has unexpectedly chosen to nominate Botcha Jhansi, the spouse of Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana, for the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat. Jhansi was previously elected from Vizianagaram to the Lok Sabha.

Given that Jhansi is a member of the BC community, the YSRC is probably going to use this as leverage in the election to gain the Lok Sabha seat. An additional benefit to it is that she is well-educated and has solid experience serving in the legislature.

The opposition TDP-JSP alliance has not yet unveiled its nominee, but the YSRC has announced its candidate for the crucial Lok Sabha constituency.

The two parties’ continuing seat-sharing discussions have been blamed for the delay. But the TDP’s M Sribharat is most likely the coalition nominee. However, if the BJP joins the TDP and JSP coalition, there may be a demand from the party for the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat.

Given that it was the coalition partner that won the seat in the 2014 elections, the BJP may propose seat sharing for the Lok Sabha seat in Visakhapatnam. In the election contest, K Haribabu, the BJP candidate, defeated Vijayamma, the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s mother and YS contender for the YSRC.

The front-runner for the party’s candidacy is now BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao, who has been camping in Visakhapatnam for the last several years, however other figures are probably going to enter the contest.

Among the contenders is D Purandeswari, the head of the State BJP and a former Lok Sabha representative from Visakhapatnam.

CM Ramesh, a BJP MP from Visakhapatnam, has also shown interest in running for office. In the next weeks, nonetheless, some clarification about the candidate could become available.

The field of contenders for the seat in Visakhapatnam has been growing in the meanwhile. VV Lakshminarayana, a former joint director of the CBI who founded the Jai Bharat Party, has already made the decision to run from Visakhapatnam.

In the most recent elections, he ran unsuccessfully as the Jana Sena Party’s candidate for the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat. The JSP and TDP then ran separate campaigns, and together, they received more votes than the YSRC candidate, who won the poll.

In a similar vein, evangelist KA Paul has declared his intention to run for the Praja Shanti Party from Visakhapatnam. The Congress, which has been revitalized since YS Sharmila assumed leadership of the party in the State, is also fielding its candidates. Who will gain from the multi-cornered race in the next elections remains to be seen.

Multi-cornered electoral battle is anticipated in the future

The Visakhapatnam The next election in the Lok Sabha seat is probably going to be a multi-cornered struggle. VV Lakshminarayana, a former joint director of the CBI who founded the Jai Bharat Party, has chosen to run from Vizag. Evangelist KA Paul from the Praja Shanti Party could participate.