Kurnool: The combined Kurnool gave only 2 seats to the ruling YSRC this time, a stark contrast to the 2019 elections when the party won more than half 14 assembly segments and 2 Lok Sabha seats across the Kurnool and Nandyal districts.
In 2014, the YSRC bagged 12 assembly and 2 Lok Sabha seats, while the Telugu Desam had only 2 assembly seats.
Notably, finance minister Buggana Rajendranath, who won on a YSRC ticket in 2014 and 2019, faced defeat this time, despite a claim that he had used over Rs 3,000 crore in governmental funds for development of Dhone constituency.
The TD candidate and party general secretary, Kotla Jayasurya Prakash Reddy, won with a majority of over 6,049 votes.
Senior YSRC legislator Katasani Rambhupal Reddy from Panyam also lost the polls. TD candidate Gowru Charitha won the seat with a majority of 30,000 votes.
TD's Bastipati Nagaraju, popularly known as Panchalingala Nagaraju, and Byreddy Shabari, who recently shifted from the BJP to the TD, were leading in the Kurnool and Nandyal Lok Sabha constituencies.
First-timers like A. Satheesh from Kodumur and Dara Sudheer from Nandikotkur, representing the YSRC, faced defeat. A Md Imtiaz, who quit as an IAS officer to contest on a YSRC ticket from Kurnool, also lost to the TD's T.G. Bharat.
Other important successes include the victory of ZPTC member B Virupakshi from Aluru, senior legislator Y Bala Nagi Reddy's fourth-term win from Mantralayam and the defeat of YSRC candidates -- former MP Butta Renuka from Yemmiganur and sitting MLA Kangati Sridevi from Pathikonda.
