High stakes for by-poll seats

Four key Assembly by-polls are slated for Wednesday — Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh, Bawana in Delhi and two seats in Goa. Nandyal constituency in Kurnool district has become a high-stakes battle between the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by N Chandrababu Naidu and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). A win for the YSRCP would boost its chances to upstage the TDP in the Assembly polls slated to be held along with the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. The TDP has an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); the YSRCP has also shown that it can work with the BJP, and had voted for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance’s candidates for the President and Vice-President of India. This has made other Opposition parties, including the Congress, wary of supporting Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSRCP. The by-poll in Bawana in Delhi has also become a matter of prestige for the three main players, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the BJP and the Congress. A loss for the AAP would mean an erosion of its support base.