Ongole Lok Sabha: Magunta lost about 24k votes to cross-voting

Ongole: Ongole MP-elect Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy of TDP lost more than 24,000 votes from his majority due to the cross-voting. If there was no cross-voting, the margin of the Srinivasulu Reddy could be more than 70,000 votes.

Cross-voting is the phenomenon when the voter votes for MLA from one party and MP from another party. The cross-voting in a parliament seat can be a loss to the MP candidate or a particular MLA candidate. In the election for the Ongole Lok Sabha constituency, TDP candidate Srinivasulu Reddy received 7,01,894 votes while the YSRCP candidate Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy received 6,51,695 votes, and the Congress candidate Eda Sudhakar Reddy got 26,722 votes.

When compared with the votes received in each Assembly segment, Bhaskar Reddy received 598 votes less than their candidate for Yerragondapalem. He received 1,279 less in Darsi, 3,177 less in Ongole, 274 less in Kondapi, 613 more in Markapuram, 788 more in Giddalur and 2,700 more in Kanigiri segment, totalling 1,227 less votes than all of the YSRCP MLA candidates received. Srinivasulu Reddy received 1,534 votes less than the TDP candidate at Yerragondapalem, 1,386 less than Darsi, 5,502 less in Ongole, 5,567 less in Kondapi, 6,483 less Markapuram, 7,153 less in Giddalur, 8507 less in Kanigiri, with a total of 24,067 votes less than all of the votes polled for the TDP MLA candidates.

Meanwhile, the Congress candidate Sudhakar Reddy got 306 votes more than their candidate at Yerragondapalem, 182 less in Darsi, 2,126 more in Ongole, 1,140 more in Kondapi, 3,081 more in Makapuram, 1,993 more in Giddalur and 2,624 more in Yerragondapalem, coming up to a total of 13,796 votes more than the votes polled for the Congress party MLA candidates.

The extra votes received by the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party candidates and independents could be the reason for the loss of more than 24,000 votes further majority to the TDP candidate.