For Nellore Rural voters, service is all that counts

Nellore : The Nellore Rural constituency is one of those rare constituencies where voters assess the hard work of the candidates before deciding on whom to vote. It is not the banners, slogans or the promises that matter. It is more so because voters of this constituency are well-educated and are also known as ‘litigants’.

In the post bifurcation period 2014 and 2019, it was Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy of YSRCP who held his sway over the constituency. Earlier in undivided AP, in 2009 Anam Vivekananda Reddy of Congress won the election.

Nellore Rural constituency was newly -carved with some parts of Nellore rural mandal comprising 20 villages and 15 wards from Nellore Municipal Corporation in 2008 as part of delimitation.

There are a total of 2,54,585 voters in the constituency and average voter turnout has been 65-70 per cent. TDP had contested the election only once in 2019. During the earlier two times, it had extended support to its alliance partners CPM in 2009, BJP in 2014.

The Congress which had contested the 2014 elections fielding Anam Vijayakumar Reddy(younger brother of Anam Vivekananda Reddy) lost the polls and was pushed to third place. Its condition turned worse in 2019 as its candidate Udatha Venkata Rao just got 1,676 votes, lesser than Jana Sena Party’s 9,002 votes and NOTA 1,875 votes.

The BJP has lost the deposit with its candidate Karnati Anjaneya Reddy getting a mere 2,969 votes, lesser than CPM’s nominee. CPM nominee TP Bhanu Raju (with TDP support) secured 23,243 votes. Surprisingly, BJP which had lost the deposit in 2009 elections enhanced its votes share to 53,450 in 2014 elections but was defeated by YSRCP nominee Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy with a margin of 25,653 votes.

Sridhar Reddy, who differed with YSRCP and had moved towards TDP is the most likely candidate for the TDP-Jana Sena combine in the next elections.

YSRCP decided to field Nellore MP Adala Prabhakar Reddy in the 2024 elections from here. The Congress too wants to test the waters but is yet to zero in on a suitable candidate. However, as of now, it appears that the Sridhar Reddy has a better chance to win the elections.