YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has steered YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) to oust Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) from power in the state after winning two-third seats in the Assembly poll.
From the beginning of the counting which started on Thursday, YSRCP was way ahead of the ruling TDP and finally finished the tally by winning 151 seats out of a total of 175, thus wresting power from Naidu. TDP's number reduced drastically from 102 to 23 seats.
The Congress and the BJP drew a blank in the state.
YSRCP polled 49.9 per cent votes, while the TDP got 39.2 per cent.
YSRCP's legislators will meet on May 25 to formally elect Jagan as their leader, party sources said. They said that he would take oath as Chief Minister in the temple-town of Tirupati on May 30.
Jana Sena Party (JSP), which contested on 140 Assembly seats, managed to win only one seat of Razole from where Rapaka Vara Prasada Rao got elected by a margin of mere 814 votes. He defeated YSRCP's Rajeswara Rao Bonthu.
Actor-turned-politician and JSP's founder Pawan Kalyan himself lost to Nagireddy Tippala of YSRCP and finished second with 58,238 votes. He also lost his second seat of Bhimavaram to YSRCP's candidate.
Jagan retained his family bastion Pulivendula seat and defeated TDP's Satish Reddy by over 50,000 votes.
His key opponent and Chief Minister Naidu also won easily from Kuppam seat. However, his son Nara Lokesh, who is also a Cabinet minister, lost to YSRCP's Alla Rama Krishna Reddy in Mangalagiri constituency in Amaravati. Lokesh was inducted into the Cabinet after he became a member of the Legislative Council in 2017.
Most of Naidu's ministerial colleagues could not stand up against Jagan's tsunami. Kala Venkat Rao, also president of TDP's Andhra Pradesh unit, P Pulla Rao, D Uma Maheswara Rao, Nakka Anand Babu, M. Buddha Prasad, S Chandramohan Reddy, and P Narayana - all ministers -- suffered defeats in their respective constituencies.
Assembly Speaker and senior TDP leader Kodela Sivaprasada Rao also lost the polls to YSRCP's Ambati Rambabu in Sattenapalli.
Jagan's magic helped YSRCP bag 22 Lok Sabha seats, while leaving only three seats to TDP out of 25 parliamentary constituencies at stake in the state.
In 2014, the TDP registered a landslide victory by winning 102 Assembly seats while Jagan's YSRCP had won 67 seats. In the simultaneous Lok Sabha polls, TDP won 15 seats, while eights seats went to the YSRCP. The BJP had won two seats.
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