It was in August 2008, actor Chiranjeevi floated Praja Rajyam Party amidst much fanfare. Despite riding on populism and hero worship among his fans, his party won just 18 assembly seats in united Andhra Pradesh in 294-member assembly in 2009 elections and bagged 17% vote share.
Cut to 2019, his younger brother Pawan Kalyan, who floated Jana Sena Party in March 2014, almost drew a blank. His party won from just one seat (Razole) with a wafer-thin majority and got a mere 6.7% vote share in AP.
A vote share analysis of JSP reveals that it was restricted to Kapu belt areas, including the lone seat from where it had won.
Pawan’s party registered a vote share of 10% to 35% in East and West Godavari, Visakhapatnam urban, Guntur urban and Vijayawada urban and Krishna delta, besides some pockets of Krishna district where Kapu population is concentrated.
The party got less than 5% in several areas and in some constituencies, fared worse as it received less than the votes polled under NOTA. The vote share of Jana Sena fell further in Lok Sabha to 6.1%.
