Krishna District Profile: LS And Assembly Constituencies 

Vijayawada: Among the most developed districts of Andhra Pradesh, Krishna is an administrative district in the Coastal Andhra region with Machilipatnam as the administrative headquarters.

Vijayawada is the most populated city in the district. It consists of a population of 45,29,009 according to 2011 census.

It is bounded by West Godavari on the east, the Bay of Bengal on the South, Guntur and Suryapet districts in the west and a portion of it also borders with the state of Telangana. The district was formed from Rajahmundry district in 1859.

The district is famous as the birthplace for Indian classical dance 'Kuchipudi'.

Eminent personalities associated with the district include Pingali Venkayya (the designer of national flag), social reformer Jayaprakash Narayan, actor and politician Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, among others.

Krishna district has two parliamentary constituencies namely, Vijayawada and Machilipatnam under which there are 16 Assembly segments. The Telugu Desam Party, YSR Congress Party and the Jana Sena Party are the main players here, while the BJP and the Congress are reduced to non-players in the region.

Vijayawada Lok Sabha Seat:

It is a war between two business tycoons from the constituency in the battle of the ballot. Sitting MP Kesineni Srinivas (Nani) is pitted against YSRCP’s Potuluri Vara Prasad, a leading film producer.

While the TDP is banking on development plank, the YSRCP is relying on an anti-establishment vote as well as 'lack of development' in the constituency. The main plank of Prasad’s campaign has been to “unleash the power of the common man” and to make Vijayawada a good place for employment and career counselling.

Caste has always been a dynamic factor in Vijayawada, which is a stronghold of the Kamma community, followed by Kapus, Reddys, Christians, Brahmins and backward castes. Civic infrastructure is another issue, which is in a poor state. Traffic congestion and other urban problems felt in the semi-urban setup in the city could also be a deciding factor.

Candidates for the Vijayawada Lok Sabha Seat:

• TDP: Sitting MP Kesineni Srinivas (Nani)
• YSRCP: Potuluri Vara Prasad
• Congress: Naraharasetti Narsimha Rao
• BJP: Dileep Kilaru
• Jana Sena: M Prasad Babu

Machilipatnam Lok Sabha Seat:

The caste equation has influenced every election in Machilipatnam and the upcoming Lok Sabha polls will be no different. This time, it is a Gowda (a backward caste) versus Kapu battle in this coastal constituency of Andhra Pradesh as sitting Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Konakalla Narayana Rao's (Gowda) main challenger will be the YSR Congress's Vallabhaneni Balashowry (Kapu).

Fifty per cent of Machilipatnam's population is made up of the backward castes which account for around seven lakh voters in this LS segment.

There are about 2.5 lakh (17%) Scheduled Caste (SC) voters here, followed by 2.03 lakh (13.8%) Kapu voters and 1.07 lakh (7.3%) Kamma voters. As many as 12 candidates are in the fray for the Machilipatnam Lok Sabha seat, including those from the Congress, BJP and new entrant Jana Sena.

Machilipatnam, comprising the seven Assembly segments has a total of 14.72 lakh voters.

Candidates for the Machilipatnam Lok Sabha Seat:

• TDP: Konakalla Narayana Rao
• YSRCP: Vallabhaneni Balashowry
• Jana Sena: Bandreddi Ramakrishna
• BJP: Gudivaka Ramanjaneyulu
• Congress: Gollu Krishna

Assembly constituencies:

There are 16 Assembly constituencies in the district. Under the Vijayawada Parliamentary seat, there are seven Assembly segments. Let us have a look who is pitted against whom in the battle.

-Mylavaram: It is a contest between TDP's Devineni Uma Maheshwararao vs YSRCP's Vasanta Krishna Prasad. Akkala Ram Mohan Rao is the Jana Sena candidate.

-Vijayawada East: TDP's Gadde Rammohan will be fighting the battle against YSRCP's Boppana Bhav Kumar and Jana Sena's Bathina Ramu.

-Nandigama: The contest is between TDP's Tangirala Sowmaya vs YSRCP's Monditoka Jagan Mohan Rao vs Jana Sena's Pushparaj Bachalakura.

-Tiruvuru: The contest is between TDP's Kothapalli Syamuel Jawahar vs YSRCP's Kokkiligadda Rakshana Nidhi.

-Vijayawada Central: YSRCP's Malladi Vishnu will battle it out against TDP's Bonda Uma Maheswara Rao and Jana Sena's Ch Baburao.

-Vijayawada West: TDP's Shabana Musarat Khatoon will have a face-off with YSRCP's Velampalli Srinivasa Rao and Jana Sena's Pothina Venkata Mahesh.

-Jaggayyapeta: The battle is between TDP candidate Sreeram Tathaiah and YSRCP's Udayabhanu.

A look at the Assembly constituencies under Machilipatnam Lok Sabha seat:

-Machilipatnam: YSRCP's Perni Venkatramaiah will contest with TDP's Kollu Ravindra and Bandi Ramakrishna of the Jana Sena.

-Pedana: It is a contest of TDP's Kagita Venkata Krishna Prasad vs YSRCP's Jogi Ramesh vs Jana Sena's Ankem Laksmi Srinivas.

-Gudivada: It is a fight between TDP's Devineni Avinash vs YSRCP's Kodali Venkateshwasra Rao (Nani)

-Gannavaram: The fight is between YSRCP's Chittibau Kondeti vs TDP's Nelapudi Stalin Babu. Pamula Rajeswari is Jana Sena candidate.

-Penamaluru: The contest is between TDP's Bode Prasad vs Kolusu Partha Sarathy of the YSRCP.

-Pamarru: YSRCP candidate Anil Kumar will be contesting against Uppuleti Kalpana from this SC reserved constituency.

-Avanigadda: In this segment, the main contest is between TDP's Mandali Budda Prasad and YSRCP's Ramesh Babu Simhadri. Muthasetti Krishnarao is the Jana Sena candidate.

Kaikaluru: YSRCP's Dulam Nageshwara Rao will fight it against TDP's Jayamangala Venkataramana and Jana Sena's BV Rao.

Nuzvid: Mudraboyina of the TDP will have to fight it out against YSRCP's Meka Venkata Pratap Apparao and BVV Bhaskar Rao of the Congress.

The campaigning for the parties will come to an end by 5 pm on Tuesday. Lok Sabha election 2019 in all 25 constituencies in Andhra Pradesh will be held on April 11. The state will also see simultaneous assembly election 2019. The counting of votes of both the elections will be done on May 23.

Also Read: Vizianagaram District Profile : LS And Assembly Constituencies