Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party pulled off a stunning performance by winning all the 21 Assembly seats it contested in Andhra Pradesh. Jana Sena Party (JSP) contested the election in alliance with the Telugu Desam Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
As part of the coalition, the party had contested only 21 seats. The impressive strike rate of the JSP is in stark contrast to its 2019 performance where the party contested in 137 seats, only to lose all but one – Razole in Konaseema district.
Pawan Kalyan, who contested from the Pithapuram constituency in Kakinada district, won with 1,34,394 votes, defeating YSRCP’s Vanga Geetha, who secured 64,115 votes. Pithapuram is a constituency with significant Kapu voters, the community that both Pawan Kalyan and Vanga Geetha belong to.
JSP’s Lok Sabha candidates Vallabhaneni Balashowry and Tangella Uday, who contested from Machilipatnam and Kakinada constituencies respectively, also secured victory. They won with a majority of over 2 lakh votes, respectively.
Performance of Jana Sena Party in 2019
In the 2019 Assembly elections, which was also the party’s first election, the JSP contested from 137 seats. Though the party was launched in 2014, they participated in elections only in 2019. But that year saw a wave in favour of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, which caused the JSP to lose its deposits in 121 of the 137 constituencies.
Pawan Kalyan had contested from Gajuwaka and Bhimavaram constituencies in 2019, failing to win both. While he lost Gajuwaka by 16,753 votes, he lost Bhimavaram by 8,357 votes.
Andhra Pradesh voted in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections simultaneously on May 13. Out of the 175 Assembly constituencies in the state, the TDP contested from 144 constituencies, JSP in 21 seats, and the BJP in 10 seats. In the Lok Sabha election, the JSP contested from two seats from Kakinada and Machalipatnam, where they are leading.