Hyderabad: The Congress party seems to be having an edge in Jubilee Hills over other political parties.
Former Indian captain and cricket Mohammad Azharuddin’s campaign is showing results with several people belonging to different parties joining the Congress party.
The biggest triumph for the Congress party was former AIMIM leader Naveen Yadav, who joined the Indian National Congress in the presence of TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy two days ago.
Naveen Yadav, who has a mass following in pockets of Jubilee Hills constituency, had unsuccessfully contested on an AIMIM ticket in 2014 but in 2018 he contested as an independent candidate. In 2023, he was aiming for a ticket from Jubilee Hills from AIMIM but another person was given the ticket.
Muslim votes in Jubilee Hills play an important role in deciding the winner. The Jubilee Hills constituency has around 3.50 lakh votes of which 1.40 are minority votes including over 80,000 Muslim votes. The polling percentage here in 2018 was 45 percent with polling in posh and upscale areas of Jubilee Hills registering a very low percentage.
The middle-class and low-income group localities in the constituency register a high percentage of voting.
“The Congress leaders are banking on the working class dominated areas, both of minority and non-minority communities’ population. In upscale areas, the campaign is going on but the focus is on areas where there is a high percentage of votes,” said a party worker.
The net result, that Congress was able to expand its base swiftly across all the municipal divisions of the Jubilee Hills in a short period of time. The joining at the local level is very encouraging, giving a boost to the campaign of the Congress party.
For the 2018 Telangana elections, Jubilee Hills had 341,537 registered electors. Out of these, 155,695 came out to vote, resulting in a voter turnout of 45.59 percent.
In an interview, Azharuddin had said that its contest is with the Bharat Rasthra Samithi candidate Maganti Gopinath, who is looking for a third consecutive win.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has named L Deepak Reddy as its candidate. The AIMIM has fielded Mohd Rashed Faraz, Shaikpet corporator as its candidate; a move seen by many to split the minority vote, Azharuddin remarked that he “cares little about it” and is confident of gathering all minority votes.
