Kesineni Shivanath, popularly known as Kesineni Chinni, of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has been declared the winner of the Vijayawada Lok Sabha seat. In a closely watched contest, Chinni, a debutant, defeated his brother and two-time MP Kesineni Srinivas (Kesineni Nani) representing the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) by a margin of 2,82,085 votes. Shivanath polled 7,94,154 votes and Srinivas secured 5,12,069 votes.
Vijayawada, which is considered a TDP bastion, witnessed heightened interest due to the contest between the Kesineni brothers—Kesineni Srinivas (Nani) and Kesineni Sivanath (Chinni)—who were once both associated with the TDP.
In 2019, Kesineni Srinivas defeated YSRCP’s Polturi Vara Prasad by a margin of 8,726 votes.
However, this time, Shivanth had a comfortable victory against Srinivas who served as a Vijayawada Lok Sabha member in 2014 and 2019 with TDP support.
When TDP chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu decided to field his brother, Kesineni Shivanath, it led to clashes between the supporters of the two brothers and ultimately prompted Srinivas to quit the TDP. He subsequently joined the YSRCP, meeting with Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, who named him as the YSRCP candidate for Vijayawada.
Meanwhile, according to updates from the election commission, TDP is leading in 136 Assembly seats out of 175 segments while its alliance partner Janasena Party (JSP) is leading in 21, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in eight seats. The YSRCP led by YS Jagan has suffered a huge loss and secured only 10 seats.