Battle lines drawn for high-stakes Jubilee Hills bypoll in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Battle lines have been drawn for the high-profile Jubilee Hills Assembly seat bypoll, scheduled for November 11. The election was necessitated following the death of the sitting MLA and BRS leader Maganti Gopinath.

This high-stakes contest is being closely watched as a key test of urban voter sentiment in Telangana, particularly within the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation region, which largely supported the BRS in the last Assembly elections.

Both the ruling Congress and the BJP view the Jubilee Hills bypoll as a crucial opportunity to consolidate their presence and influence in the state’s urban constituencies.

The Congress has fielded Backward Class (BC) leader V Naveen Yadav, while the BRS has nominated Gopinath’s widow Sunitha. The BJP is yet to finalise its candidate.

The bypoll also evokes interest for another reason: In a similar post-Assembly election contest, the Congress won the Secunderabad Cantonment bypoll — necessitated by the death of sitting MLA G Lasya Nanditha of the BRS in a road accident — in May 2024, wresting the seat from the BRS.

Interestingly, the BJP’s T N Vamsha Tilak finished second in that election, while Lasya's sister Niveditha stood third. Sympathy did not help the BRS retain the seat, ending its decade-long hold over the constituency.

In Jubilee Hills, the BRS has already launched its campaign with Sunitha Maganti. Calling the bypoll a “golden chance to discipline the Congress”, BRS working president K T Rama Rao recently urged voters to elect Sunitha, asserting that people across castes and communities continued to see party founder and his father K Chandrashekar Rao as their leader of choice.

In the 2023 Assembly elections, the Congress fielded former cricketer Md Azharuddin from this segment, who secured 35.03% of the votes but lost to Gopinath. Naveen Yadav, the current Congress nominee, contested the 2014 polls on an AIMIM ticket and polled 41,656 votes, losing by about 8,000. He contested as an independent in 2019 and secured 18,817 votes.

The segment has approximately 3.9 lakh voters, including nearly 1 lakh Muslim voters. Political watchers say whether the AIMIM fields a candidate could significantly influence the outcome. If the AIMIM stays out, the Congress may gain an advantage by consolidating Muslim votes.

Meanwhile, the BJP has formed a three-member committee to finalise its candidate. Jubilee Hills falls under the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency, represented by Union minister G Kishan Reddy, who significantly improved the BJP’s vote share from this segment in the 2024 general elections compared to the previous Assembly polls. 

Meanwhile, the Congress is banking on its governance record over the past 20 months, the BC candidate factor, and the pro-incumbency advantage.