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ELECTIONS '96

Upendra breaks 27-year-old Vijayawada jinx

Former Union minister P Upendra has broken a 27-year-old electoral jinx by getting elected from the politically-sensitive Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency for the second term in succession.

Upendra defeated his nearest Telugu Desam rival Dasari Ramesh by a margin of 30,067 votes.

Barring former Union minister Dr K L Rao, who was elected thrice to the Lok Sabha from Vijayawada in 1962, 1967 (elected unopposed) and in 1971, no other candidate had won the seat for a second term since then.

With the latest victory, the Congress had won the seat nine times since 1952, while the Telugu Desam, since its electoral debut in 1984, had won it twice.

The constituency had the distinction of sending actor and poet Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, Sarojini Naidu's brother, to the Lok Sabha in 1952 when he defeated Rajyam Sinha (Congress).

UNI