The Lok Sabha seats of Visakhapatnam, Khammam and Bapatla have a peculiar record. Voters in these three constituencies prefer non-locals to represent them in Parliament.
In 2009, Visakhapatnam voted for Daggubati Purandeswari, who is from Prakasam district. Before her, former chief minister Nedurumalli Janardhan Reddy of Nellore district was elected.
In 1999, the port city chose N.V.V.S. Murthy of East Godavari district. In 1996 and 1998, Vizag elected T. Subbirami Reddy who hails from Nellore. And in 1989, the voters favoured Uma Gajapathi Raju of Vizianagaram district. Expect Mr Murthy, who belongs to the TD, all others were elected from the Congress.
Khammam elected Hyderabad’s Renuka Chowdary twice in 1999 and 2004. in 1998, the voters favoured former chief minister
Nadendla Bhaskar Rao who is from Guntur district. Way back in 1991, P.V. Rangaiah Naidu from East Godavari district was elected from Khammam. The trend was broken by TD’s Nama Nageswara Rao, a local, in 2009.
Bapatla voted for Union minister Panbaka Laxmi in 2009. Ms Purandeswari was elected in 2004 and her husband Daggubati Venkateswara Rao in 1991. Mr Janardhan Reddy was elected from Bapatla in 1990.
