YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday sounded confident that his party will come to power in Andhra Pradesh as he turned up early at a polling booth in Pulivendula, his assembly constituency. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who turned up early at a voting booth in Andhra Pradesh's Pulivendula, had a message for first-time voters. "Vote for change, vote without fear," Mr. Reddy said.

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YSR Congress chief said he is confident that his party will secure “majority on its own” in the Andhra Pradesh assembly election and emerge as the leading party in the Lok Sabha polls in the state. Mr. Reddy is, in fact, hoping that along with K Chandrashekar Rao's Telangana Rashtra Samithi and AIMIM, they will together bargain for special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

Jagan Mohan led an aggressive election campaign against the Telugu Desam Party government of N Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh while hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress at the same time. Mr. Naidu said,  his battle is against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as regional rivals Mr. Reddy and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.

Andhra Pradesh is voting for both assembly and the Lok Sabha elections simultaneously. Polling is taking place for all 175 assembly constituencies and 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh in the first phase of the parliamentary polls on Thursday. The seven-phase Lok Sabha polls will come to a close on May 19 and votes will be counted on May 23.

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