The representativeness of MLAs in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly will rise to 46% in the 2024 elections.
According to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Andhra Pradesh Election Watch, the newly elected Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in Andhra Pradesh now represent an average of 46 percent of the total electorate in their respective constituencies, an increase from 41 percent in 2019.
Representativeness, calculated by dividing the votes polled for the winning candidate by the total number of registered voters, indicates the percentage of the electorate the winning candidate represents.
The report highlighted that Mangalagiri MLA Nara Lokesh, son of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, had the highest representativeness at 58.53 percent. Conversely, Matsyarasa Visweswara Raju from Paderu and Regam Matyalingam from Araku Valley, both Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) MLAs, had the lowest representativeness at 27.82 percent and 27.19 percent, respectively.
In the 2024 elections, winners secured an average of 46.15 percent of the total registered votes, compared to 40.48 percent in 2019. Furthermore, 88 percent (154) of the winners garnered over 50 percent of the total votes polled in their constituencies, while 12 percent (21) won with less than 50 percent.
Visakhapatnam South MLA Vamsi Krishna Srinivas of the Janasena Party achieved the highest vote share at 70 percent, while Matyalingam from Araku Valley had the lowest at approximately 43 percent. The TDP, which formed the government, received the most votes at 45.60 percent, followed by YSRCP with 39.37 percent.
Among the TDP's 135 winners, 10 percent (13) won, with less than 50 percent of the total votes polled. Similarly, one out of eight BJP winners, six out of 11 YSRCP winners, and one out of 21 Janasena Party winners also secured less than 50 percent of the votes polled in their constituencies.
The report also noted that Madakasira MLA MS Raju of the TDP had the smallest victory margin of 351 votes, while Srinivas achieved the most significant margin with 64,594 votes. The elections, held concurrently with the Lok Sabha polls in May, had their votes counted on June 4.
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