AP CM lauds Vikram on Victory

By Our Special Correspondent

YS Jagan Mohan Reddy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh State congratulated MLA Mekapati Vikram Reddy and other leaders who won the Atmakuru by-election. Among those who met the chief minister at the camp office on Monday were ministers Kakani Govardhan Reddy and Karmuri Nageswara Rao.

Vikram defeated his 13 opponents by 1,02,241 votes, while BJP candidate Bharat Kumar got 19,353 votes and BSP candidate Nanda Obulesu got 4,904 votes. Independent Dr Shashidhar Reddy Tumati got 2276 votes while others ended with 3 digit votes.

It will be recalled here that YSRCP won the by-election to Atmakuru constituency of Nellore district with an overwhelming majority after the counting of votes on Sunday. According to the Election Commission, by the end of the 12th round of counting, YSRCP candidate Mekapati Vikram Reddy had won by a margin of 50,654 votes over his BJP rival Bharat Kumar Yadav.

This margin has given a big boost to YSR Congress leaders and ministers who worked hard this summer to get Vikram Reddy a majority of one lakh votes as per the instructions of Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. The ruling party lost 18,000 votes to reach the target, with only 64.11 per cent turnout, party leaders said.