Despite loss in LS polls, BJP gains ground in Khammam with 9.47 percent vote share
The party has increased its vote share significantly in this election in comparison to the last election.
Published Date - 5 June 2024, 06:34 PM
Khammam: Despite being confined to third position in Khammam Lok Sabha elections-2024, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has gained ground in the constituency.
The party has increased its vote share significantly in this election in comparison to the last election. In the 2019 elections BJP’s vote share was 1.80 percent and in this election the party candidate Tandra Vinod Rao, a political novice, secured 1, 18,636 with a vote share of 9.47 percent.
According to the sources the BJP carried out a rather discreet campaign reaching out to the voters across the constituency involving its frontal organisations as well as Hindu outfits Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, ABVP, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Bajrang Dal, Hindu Vahini and several others.
BJP top leaders like Rajnath Singh, JP Nadda, Eatala Rajender, Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy and others campaigned for Vinod Rao creating a momentum for the party in the constituency. In addition to that, the support of TDP has also helped the BJP to gain over one lakh votes in the constituency where Left wing ideology is predominant.
It might be noted that BJP had shown a similar performance in 1998 Lok Sabha elections in the constituency as its candidate Ravindra Naik Daravath secured 1, 17,926 votes with a vote share of 13.07 percent. However, the party subsequently failed to build up its voter base in the constituency.
For Congress it took 15 years to win Khammam Lok Sabha as after 2004 general election the party was not able to win the seat. The party candidate Renuka Chowdary lost the election in 2009 and 2019 while in 2014 Congress supported CPI.
In this election 24 independent candidates together got 43, 512 votes while the candidates of seven registered parties together secured 8, 968 votes and there are 6782 NOTA votes.