The picturesque district of Visakhapatnam, also known as "The Jewel of the East Coast", is one of the nine coastal districts in the state of Andhra Pradesh. With its administrative headquarters located at Visakhapatnam it is located on the eastern shore of India, nestled among the hills of the Eastern Ghats and facing the Bay of Bengal to the East.
Visakhapatnam and the surrounding mandals face severe industrial and traffic pollution, which is rapidly spreading. Another major problem is the garbage and bio-medical waste that the hospitals are dumping in the surrounding areas that is spreading infection all around.
Due to the lack of foresight for a proper urban planning approach, the urban population is forced to live in slums. The district faces an impending water crisis due to the shrinkage in the capacity of the local reservoirs. This is caused due to widespread damage to the catchments and extensive damage and contamination of the surface and groundwater sources.
Apart from the drinking water and irrigation issues, the irrigation channels and drain bunds have turned into dumping yards.
The biggest issue is that of unemployment among youth. Elected representatives, who have even gone on to become ministers, have failed to solve the problem.
Agriculture is the main livelihood of people, the farmers are highly dependent on borewells for irrigation, and need uninterrupted power supply. Despite the rainfall and humid conditions, people suffer a shortage of potable drinking water.
Besides these, the usual problems of bad roads, civic issues and drainage problems continue to plaque the district.
Construction of wing flyovers, flyovers expansion and roads construction to solve the traffic problems are also needed.
Proper roads and connectivity to the inner rural regions, housing sites for the poor are some of the problems faced by the people in the district.
Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and is the biggest parliamentary constituency in the state.
The Visakha LS constituency is going to face a four-fold fight between MVV Satyanarayana of the YSRCP, D Purandeshwari of the BJP, Bharat M of the TDP, V Lakshmi Narayana of the Jana Sena party . Purandeswari is the daughter of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder NT Rama Rao and was earlier elected from Visakhapatnam as Congress candidate in 2009. She later joined the BJP and her husband D Venkateswara Rao recently joined the YSRCP. She is testing her waters for the second time with Saffron party. The TDP candidate M Bharath is a new entrant to politics, but a known face in Vizag. He is the grandson of the founder of GITAM University, MVVS Murthy and also Nandamuri Balakrishna's second son-in-law . It is believed that owing to pressure from Balayya, Chandrababu had to give the ticket to Bharath.
The other surprising entrant is former Joint Director of the CBI VV Lakshmi Narayana who joined the Jana Sena and is contesting from Visakhapatnam. A prominent builder the YSRCP’s MVV Satyanarayana has been named as the candidate for the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat.
Popular gynecologist and social worker Dr K Satyavathi has been announced as the candidate for Anakapalle parliamentary constituency. For Araku Lok Sabha seat, Goddeti Madhavi, a school teacher from the Kondadora community and daughter of late CPI MLA G Demudu, secured the ticket.
Anakapalle - It's a fight between YSRCP's AVSS Amarnath Gudivada Vs TDP's Peela Govinda Satyanarayana
Pendurthi - Its YSRCP's Adeep Raj vs TDP's Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy
Yelamanchili - YSRCP's Uppalapati Venkata Ramana Murthy Raju (Kanna Babu Raju) VsTDP's Panchakarla Ramesh Babu
Narsipatnam - YSRCP's Petla Uma Sankar Ganesh VS TDPs Senior leader and minister Chintakayala Ayyanapatrudu
Chodavaram - YSRCP's Dharmasri Karanam will be pitted against sitting MLA Kalidindi Suryana Naga Sanyasi Raju of the TDP who is trying for a hat trick
Madugula -YSRCP's Budi Mutyala Naidu Vs Sitting TDP MLA Gavireddy Ramanaidu
Payakaraopet (SC) -YSRCP's Golla Babu Rao Vs TDP's Dr. Budumuri Bangaraiah
Paderu (ST) -YSRCP's Bhagyalakshmi Vs TDP Giddi Eswari
Araku Valley (ST) -YSRCP'sChetti Palguna Vs TDP's Kidari Sravan Kumar
Visakhapatnam East - YSRCP's Akaramani Vijaya Nirmala Vs Sitting MLA and TDP's Velagapudi Ramakrishna
Visakhapatnam West - YSRCP's Vijay Prasad Malla Vs TDP's PGVR Naidu
Visakhapatnam South - YSRCP's V Dronamraju Srinivas Vs TDP's Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar
Visakhapatnam North -Its YSRCP's KK Raju Vs TDP's Education Minister Ghanta Srinivasa Rao
Gajuwaka -There will be a strong triangular battle here, where two strong leaders - the sitting TDP MLA Palla Srinivasa Rao and YSRCP’s Tippala Nagi Reddy will be pitted against Jana Sena Chief Pawan Kalyan . This is Pawan's first election and he is also contesting from Bhimavaram to test his luck.
Bhimili - YSRCP's Muthamsetti Srinivasa ( Avanthi Srinivas) Vssenior TDP leader Sabbam Hari.
Also Read: Srikakulam District Profile: Parties, Candidates List