Hyderabad: While the ruling Congress in Telangana is looking to win the Jubilee Hills Assembly seat in the upcoming bypoll, retaining the seat for the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) will in fact be crucial for its survival in the state. While the BRS is very active on the ground, it is however in danger of being marginalised if it manages to give space to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
It may be recalled that the BRS was virtually wiped out in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the the Congress and BJP won eight seats each out of the total 17 in Telangana. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) retained the Hyderabad Parliament constituency. The BRS, which got 39 seats in the 2023 Assembly elections, got 37.35% of votes, just about 2 percent lesser than the 39.40% the Congress got (winning the polls with 64 seats).
Political analysts said that while the BRS is not looking weak, it is mostly banking on sympathy to win the upcoming November 11 Jubilee Hills by election. “The Congress is the ruling party, which is a big factor that may help it win. Secondly, while the BJP knows it won’t win, it can however eat into the BRS vote share, which we saw in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. So the BRS is going to face both the parties this way,” said political observer Palwai Raghavendra Reddy.
The upcoming by election was necessitated after the late BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath passed away earlier this year. The Congress has given the ticket to local candidate Naveen Yadav, while the BRS has nominated Gopinath’s widow Sunitha. The BJP’s candidate is Lanka Deepak Reddy, who had earlier unsuccessfully contested from the seat.
Moreover, this time the AIMIM is also not contesting the by election and is supporting the ruling Congress. The Asaduddin Owaisi-led party was in a “friendly” unofficial alliance with the BRS until it was in power, and then shifted sides to the grand old party. “We have to wait and see how the AIMIM will be beneficial to us, but hopefully this time we will win the seat as we had come close to winning in the last polls,” a senior Congress leader told Siasat.com.
In the 2023 elections AIMIM candidate Rashid Farazuddin got 7848 votes. However, it may be recalled that Naveen Yadav had contested on an AIMIM ticket in the 2014 elections and come second with over 40,000 votes (Gopinath then in the TDP managed to win with over 50,000 votes). After 2014, the BRS win the seat in the 2018 and 2023 state elections.
The AIMIM likely has a considerable hold in the upcoming Jubilee Hills by poll and it is to be seen if Owaisi’s support will help the Congress this time.
Ex-Indian cricketer Mohd Azharuddin who had come second in the 2023 elections was also hopeful of contesting the by-election this time. However, he was nominated as an MLC and was moved away from the game.
“This time there are many Muslim voters who will vote for the BRS, as many are unhappy with the ruling Congress. We are confident of winning as the ruling party currently does not have a very positive perception in general amongst the public,” a BRS functionary said when asked about the party’s chance of winning the Jubilee Hills by election.
