E-Paper
Lok Sabha election 2019: Tough fight expected in Andhra’s Kakinada seat
In the 2014 election, Thota Narasimham of the TDP squeezed through a narrow margin of just over three thousand votes.
Kakinada Lok Sabha constituency in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh is one of the key parliamentary seats in the state. In 2014, Thota Narasimham of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) recorded a narrow victory over Sunil Chalamalasetty of the YSR Congress .
Narasimham has since joined the YSRC while Chalamalasetty shifted to the TDP. C Suneel has been nominated by the TDP as its candidate this time while the YSRC has named former Rajya Sabha MP Vanga Geeta as its candidate for Kakinada Lok Sabha seat.
Kakinada was once a Congress stronghold and the party won the seat between 1957 and 1980. Its winning run was broken by the TDP which won it in 1984 when it debuted. Since 1984, the TDP won the seat five times but Narasimham’s victory in 2014 was one of the narrowest with a margin of 3,431 votes.
The BJP which has a weak presence in Andhra Pradesh, won the seat once in 1998.
As per the 2011 census, out of a total population of 1936809, 65.78% is rural and 34.22% is urban population. The Scheduled castes (SC) and Scheduled tribes (ST) ratio is 15.43 and 1.67, respectively out of total population.
Kakinada Lok Sabha constituency in numbers:
Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Kakinada
Date of voting : April 11
2019 candidates: Yalla Venkata Ramamohana Rao (BJP), MM Pallam Raju (Congress), Vanga Geetha (YSRCP), Chalamalasetti Sunil (TDP)
Sitting MP, Party: Thota Narasimham, TDP
Winning margin in 2014: 3,431 votes
Runner up name, party: Sunil Chalamalasetty, YSRC
Number of voters in 2014: 1,418,290
Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 78
Number of polling booths in 2014: 1491
Number of women voters: 709,189
