The exit polls for the Andhra Pradesh Lok Sabha Elections are out and it seems to be a close fight for 25 MP seats in the state between the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the opposition YSRCP. The state went to polls in the first phase on April 11.
The India Today-My Axis poll predicted 4 to 6 seats for the TDP and 18 to 20 seats for the YSRCP. The poll did not consider Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party (JSP) and his alliance and said that others would win 0 to 1 seats.
The Times Now-VMR exit polls predicted 7 and 18 seats for the TDP and YSRCP, and has predicted no seats for the JSP alliance while the Republic-Cvoter exit poll predicted that the TDP, YSRCP and JSP-alliance would get 14, 11 and 0 seats respectively.
The Republic-Jan Ki Baat exit polls predicted a YSRCP victory with 13-16 seats and said that TDP would win 8-12 seats. It also said that the TDP’s vote share would be 41% while the YSRCP would be 46%.
NewsX-Neta exit poll predicted 20 seats for the YSRCP and 5 to the TDP while the CNN News18-IPSOS predicted 10 to 12 seats for the TDP and 13 to 14 seats for the YSRCP. It said that the BJP was likely to get 1 seat while the Congress would get none.
Today’s Chanakya predicted that the TDP would win 14 to 20 seats, YSRCP would pick up 5 to 11 seats. The exit polls did not mention the JSP and said that the Congress and the BJP could bag between 0 and 2 seats each.
The 2019 Elections are the first in the residual state of Andhra Pradesh after the bifurcation in 2014. United Andhra which had a total of 42 seats and saw the elections being held together in 2014, witnessed TDP win 16, TRS 11, YSRCP 9, BJP 3, and Congress 2. However, many MPs defected to the TDP from YSRCP. Ahead of the polls, there was a reverse exodus of legislators and senior politicians.
The YSRCP – which aims to storm into power in the state and win a majority from the state in the Parliament – is pegging its hopes on the recent success of the Praja Sankalpa Yatra, a 3,648 km-long ‘padayatra’ or walkathon that Jagan Mohan Reddy undertook over a span of more than a year, covering all districts in the state. The TDP hopes to prove its critics wrong and has renominated several of its sitting MPs, in a bid to prove that there is little anti-incumbency in the state.
Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party and his alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Left parties was a third option on the ballot for voters in the state. The alliance has fielded some prominent faces like former CBI joint director VV Lakshminarayana from Vizag and Pawan's brother Naga Babu from the Narsapuram seat.
While the Congress and BJP's chances are slim in the state, they too have fielded some senior leaders in the hope of winning a few seats. Seasoned politician and former Union Minister Vyricherla Kishore Chandra Suryanarayana Deo, a six-time Parliamentarian has been fielded on a Congress ticket from Araku, while the BJP has fielded former CM and TDP founder NT Rama Rao's daughter, Daggubati Purandeswari, from Vizag.
The state has witnessed a shake-up in poll alliances after the TDP pulled out of the NDA in 2018 after the Centre refused to grant special status to Andhra. While Naidu’s party has voiced support for the Congress-led alliance at the national level, the two parties have chosen to contest independently in Andhra.
Jagan on the other hand, is playing his cards close to his chest, and has said that he will support any party that grants special status to Andhra Pradesh. However, his first preference is likely to be Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's Federal Front.