Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) C Sudharshan Reddy on Friday, November 28, said that no candidate sought checking and verification of the burnt memory or microcontroller of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in the Jubilee Hills Assembly bye-election that was held earlier this month.
“Under the Election Commission of India’s directives, candidates placed second or third behind the highest-polling candidate may request verification of 5% of EVMs, including the Ballot Unit, Control Unit and VVPAT, within seven days of the declaration of results. The process, if invoked, is carried out by a team of engineers from the EVM manufacturers to check for any possible tampering,” the Telangana CEO said in a press release.
He added that during the stipulated period from November 14 to 21, 2025, no written request was received by the District Election Officer or the Returning Officer’s offices from any candidate in the Jubilee Hills constituency.
He added that the election process was conducted in line with the guidelines and procedural safeguards laid down by the Election Commission of India.
Congress leader V Naveen Yadav took oath as the Jubilee Hills MLA in the Telangana Assembly on Wednesday, November 26. Yadav took the oath in the presence of Telangana Assembly speaker Gadam Prasad. Yadav contested the Jubilee Hills by-election on a Congress ticket and secured 98,988 votes. He defeated Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) candidate Maganti Sunitha by 24,729 votes.
While Congress and BRS fielded Naveen Yada and Sunitha respectively, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) feilded Lankala Deepak Reddy as its candidate for the Jubilee Hills by election. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) had announced support to the Congress candidate.
Background of the by poll
The Jubilee Hills by-election was held on November 11 and the results were declared on November 14.
BRS had fielded Maganti Sunitha, wife of the late Maganti Gopinath, while the Congress nominated Naveen Yadav. The BJP had chosen Lankala Deepak Reddy, who had unsuccessfully contested the seat in the 2023 Assembly elections. Meanwhile, Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has extended its support to the Congress.
It was significant for the Congress, which aimed to wrest the seat from the main opposition, BRS. Having failed to secure even a single seat in the Greater Hyderabad region during the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections, a victory here was crucial for the Congress to strengthen its urban foothold.
