Kurnool. Kurnool: Alliance candidate and Nandyal MP Byreddy Shabari has created history as she is the first woman to be elected from the parliamentary constituency. Shabari contested from Panyam in 2014 from Rayalaseema Conservation Committee but had to face defeat. However, in the current election, she won decisively with a huge majority of over 1.36 lakh votes. Nandyal Lok Sabha has seen a dearth of women candidates in its electoral history.
The constituency has had only one woman candidate in its history so far. Bhuma Shoba Nagi Reddy, who was four-time MLA from Allagadda, had to face defeat when she contested for the Lok Sabha constituency in 2004. Shabari’s victory after 20 years created a record as she became the first woman MP from the constituency. The parliamentary constituency comprises seven assembly constituencies – Nandyal, Dhone, Panyam, Allagadda, Srisailam, Banaganapalle and the reserved SC constituency of Nandikotkur. Several male candidates, such as former President of India Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and former Governor Pendekanti Venkata Subbaiah, had represented the constituency. Narasimha Rao’s landslide victory in Nandyal in 1991, with a record-breaking majority of 5 lakh, earned him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. In recent times, Maddur Subba Reddy, Bojja Venkat Reddy, Gangula Pratap Reddy, Bhuma Nagi Reddy and SPY Reddy have been elected from there. However, only men were the candidates until Shabari’s current win.
