Campaign for Jubilee Hills bypoll reaches a crescendo

Hyderabad, Nov 6 The campaign for the by-election in Telangana's Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency here has reached a crescendo with key contestants, Congress, BRS and BJP, making all-out efforts to secure victory for their candidates.

With just three days to go for the campaigning to end, top leaders of all three parties are going door-to-door to woo the voters.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy himself is leading the campaign of the ruling party by addressing corner meetings and conducting road shows, while about a dozen ministers are participating in door-to-door canvassing.

Leaders of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are also pulling out all the stops. They are addressing rallies and conducting road shows to seek support for their respective candidates.

The BRS campaign is being led by the party’s Working President, K.T. Rama Rao, who is supported by several key leaders of the party.

Union Ministers G. Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar, along with state BJP chief Ramchander Rao and party MPs and MLAs, are running a hectic campaign.

Addressing the election rallies, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is accusing BRS and BJP of having a tacit understanding. He is claiming that the BJP is backing the BRS in the by-election.

Highlighting the welfare schemes being implemented by his government, Revanth Reddy is targeting the BRS for the lack of development in Jubilee Hills during its 10-year rule.

The BRS, on the other hand, is highlighting the development works undertaken in Hyderabad during its regime.

Both the BRS and the BJP are targeting Congress over what they call unfulfilled promises and the lack of development during the last two years.

A triangular contest is on cards in the constituency, which is one of the Assembly segments under the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency, represented by Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy.

The by-election is necessitated by the death of sitting MLA Maganti Gopinath of the BRS in June this year. The BRS has fielded his wife, Maganti Sunitha, in the by-election.

The Congress party has fielded Naveen Yadav, who had in the past contested as the candidate of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). The party led by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has declared its support for the Congress candidate.

The BJP has once again given a ticket to Lankala Deepak Reddy, who had finished third in the 2023 election.

Gopinath had scored a hat-trick in 2023 by defeating his nearest rival, Mohammed Azharuddin of the Congress, by over 16,000 votes.

Though the former Indian cricket captain was keen to contest from his home constituency once again, the Congress leadership pacified him by deciding to nominate him to the Legislative Council.

Azharuddin was inducted into the Telangana Cabinet last week. He has been given the portfolio of minorities welfare and public enterprises.

He is among the ministers who are actively campaigning for the Congress candidate.

A total of 58 candidates are in the fray, but the main contest is among the three parties.

According to Hyderabad District Election Officer R. V. Karnan, the constituency has a total of 4,01,365 voters -- 2,08,561 men and 1,92,779 women.

As 58 candidates are in fray, four ballot units and one VVPAT will be used in each of the polling booths.

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