Vizag South presents a tough combat zone for MLA candidates

Visakhapatnam South Assembly constituency overview: Key communities, voter demographics, and prominent candidates in upcoming elections.

The decision to field MLC Ch. Vamsikrishna Srinivasa Yadav of the JSP against two-time MLA Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar for Visakhapatnam South Assembly constituency was met with resentment from cadres of the alliance parties of TDP and BJP and even from a few sections of the JSP. The leaders opined that Mr. Yadav might not be the best choice for the constituency whose voters are predominantly from the fishermen’s community.

However, as his door-to-door campaign picked pace, Vamsikrishna managed to turn the tide in his favour with his intense electioneering, frequent meetings with the party cadres and interactive programmes with different communities in the election segment.

During the past few weeks, he has also seemed to earn the full support of TDP constituency in-charge Gandi Babjee, former Brahmin Corporation Chairman Sitharamaraju Sudhakar, and several corporate leaders.

One of the seven assembly constituencies in Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha, the Visakhapatnam South constituency, was formed in 2008 as per the delimitation orders. In 2009, senior politician Dronamraju Srinivasa Rao won from the Congress. In 2014 and 2019, Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar emerged victorious from the TDP.

TDP which once held sway in the constituency might now find it difficult to secure the seat as its leader Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar joined the YSRCP which gave him its MLA ticket there.

In a move to regain its hold, the TDP leadership appointed former MLA and senior politician Gandi Babjee as the in-charge of the South constituency. He has been actively organising the party programmes over the past few years and strengthening the cadre. However, the seat was later allotted to the JSP during the seat sharing.

Prominent voter communities in the South include fishermen (several communities), Muslims, Vaishyas, and Brahmins. A number of migrants have also settled here for decades and are engaged in various menial jobs.