Hyderabad: The vote share of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) went up in the Assembly constituencies under the limits of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s (GHMC) limits despite the party not winning big in the recently held Telangana polls.
In 10 constituencies, the saffron party’s vote share has at least doubled, out of which, in a couple of cases captured much more than double.
But on an overall percentage in the region, the BJP’s growth might seem like a marginal one as it was 11.1125% in 2018 and 13.683% in 2023. However, the party showed considerable impact in deciding the victor in some constituencies and curtailed the chance of Congress candidates by splitting the anti-incumbency vote against the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
In Sanathnagar, Secunderabad Cantonment, Amberpet, Charminar, and Chandrayangutta the party even dominated the Congress by bagging second place after the BRS.
In Musheerabad, the opposition vote was split almost in half between the Congress and the BJP which was 24.11% and 23.11% respectively while the winning BRS candidate bagged 49.07%.
Even in Khairatabad, the difference between the Congress and the BJP was a mere 4.69%.
In Goshamahal, despite roadshows by BRS working president K T Rama Rao and a door-to-door campaign by Congress candidate Mogili Sunitha Rao Mudiraj, sitting BJP MLA T Raja Singh won big with voter percentage increasing by 8.9 percent, in comparison to the 2018 election result.
Raja Singh won the seat by winning more than half the votes (54.1%)
Slight growth in AIMIM’s bastions
In Karwan, BJP candidate Amar Singh pushed both the BRS and the Congress to distant third and fourth positions by capturing 41402 votes. (voter percentage increase of 2.1% compared to 2018). AIMIM’s winning candidate Kausar Mohiuddin’s vote share dropped by 5.78%.
The BJP grew by 5.6 percent in Charminar, where the party’s candidate Megha Rani Agarwal pushed Congress’ Mohammed Mujeebullah Shareef (11.11%) to the third place.
Biggest jump in Quthbullapur
The saffron party saw the biggest jump in Quthbullapur, where the party gave the ticket to Kuna Srisailam Goud who defected from the Congress in 2021. He was the former District Congress President (DCC) in the grand old party and also was elected in the past from Quthbullapur as an independent candidate in 2009 after the Congress denied him the ticket.
The party won a mere 3.4 percent vote in 2018 from the constituency but it jumped over 7 times to 25.5 percent in 2023 and stood second in the Andhra-dominated region.
Jana Sena’s effect
Even though the party’s poll alliance with the Jana Sena did not show any noticeable dividend in terms of wins, in Kukatpalle, Jana Sena’s candidate Mummareddy Prem Kumar won 15.88% electorate (39830 votes), which is close to a three times jump in the BJP’s footprint in the constituency compared to 2018.
2020 GHMC election success
The BJP’s Assembly poll performance in 2023 comes after its big win in the 2020 GHMC elections (total wards at 150) where it came close second to the BRS (then TRS) by bagging 56 wards. The AIMIM had won 44 wards. The Congress only won 2 wards (6 months after this result, then Malkajgiri MP A Revanth Reddy was made the state unit president of the Congress in June 2021).
The BJP’s performance then pulled down the BRS’ number from a big 99 in the 2016 GHMC election to 56 wards, forcing it to join hands with the AIMIM to run the municipal body.
The GHMC’s success under its then-state unit president Bandi Sanjay Kumar was seen as a sample of how the BJP can become a serious contender against the BRS. But, the BJP’s graph unexpectedly went downwards since then.
Massive roadshows did very little
Despite massive roadshows by BJP stalwarts like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, local factors played a bigger role in the latest results. The downfall of the BJP post the resignation of Sanjay as the party chief, the resurgence of the Congress, and the BRS’ development plank in the city can be seen as important factors that influenced the poll outcome.
| Constituencies under GHMC | 2018 | 2023 | |
| 1 | *Secunderabad | 8.9 | 17.9 |
| 2 | *Secunderabad Cantonment | 13.2 | 33.6 |
| 3 | *Sanathnagar | 11.9 | 24 |
| 4 | Musheerabad | 21.3 | 23.1 |
| 5 | Khairatabad | 24.5 | 24.6 |
| 6 | *Jubilee Hills | 5.5 | 13.8 |
| 7 | Amberpet | 45 | 34 |
| 8 | Goshamahal | 45.2 | 54.1 |
| 9 | Yakutpura | 11.7 | 15.8 |
| 10 | Nampally | 8.4 | 6.9 |
| 11 | Malakpet | 16.8 | 18 |
| 12 | Karwan | 22.6 | 24.7 |
| 13 | Charminar | 21 | 26.8 |
| 14 | Chandrayangutta | 10.7 | 11.1 |
| 15 | Bahadurpura | 5.7 | 8.09 |
| 16 | *Patancheru | 3.5 | 7.21 |
| 17 | *Kukatpalle (Jana Sena) | 5.6 | 15.88 |
| 18 | *Serilingampally | 8.0 | 22.4 |
| 19 | *Maheshwaram | 17.0 | 32.45 |
| 20 | *LB Nagar | 8.9 | 30.18 |
| 21 | Uppal | 11.9 | 17.21 |
| 22 | *Quthbullapur | 3.4 | 25.5 |
| 23 | Malkajgiri | 19.6 | 20.88 |
| 24 | *Rajendranagar | 7.9 | 27.31 |
