Andhra Pradesh assembly elections: As always, East Godavari will hold the key to formation of next govt

VISAKHAPATNAM: East Godavari , with most number of assembly seats—19—in Andhra Pradesh , is the bellwether district in the state.


Whoever gets the most number of seats in East Godavari, goes on to form the government in the state.

But East Godavari voter shifts her allegiance often.

When N T Rama Rao floated Telugu Desam party (TDP) and fought elections in 1983, the party bagged all the 21 seats in the district. Across the state, TDP won 201 out of the total 294 seats to form the government.

In 1985, when TDP bagged 202 seats, East Godavari again played the key role—the party won 20 seats.

Congress wrested back power from TDP in 1989 by winning a total of 181 seats and 16 from East Godavari district.

In 1994, the central coastal district took TDP’s side by giving it 19 seats. The district gave 18 MLAs to TDP when the party retained power in 1999—it was the first election for chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu as chief minister after he took TDP’s reins in 1995.

In 2004, Congress bagged 16 seats in East Godavari district and with a total of 185 seats Y S Rajasekhara Reddy became chief minister.

The district lost two constituencies in the delimitation process — before elections in 2009. The same year, with the entry of Praja Rajyam, the district still gave a clear mandate to Congress—11 seats. The Chiranjeevi-led Praja Rajyam party won four seats in East Godavari in sync with 17% vote share.

In 2014, the TDP-BJP alliance won 13 seats in the state while YSR Congress (YSRC) was limited to five seats.

Kona Pydiraju, a senior Telugu Desam party leader from East Godavari, said change in voting trend in Andhra Pradesh starts from East Godavari. “It happened in the last few elections. Even in 2019 elections East Godavari would give a clear mandate to parties,” Pydiraju said.