Cong wins Jubilee Hills Assembly bypoll, shot in arm for CM Revanth Reddy
Hyderabad (PTI): Congress candidate V Naveen Yadav on Friday won the by-election to Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency by a majority of over 24,729 votes.
Yadav secured 98,988 votes, while his nearest BRS rival Maganti Sunitha got 74,259 votes, election officials said.
BJP nominee Lankala Deepak Reddy, who managed to obtain 17,061 votes, stood third and forfeited his security deposit.
Yadav had consistently maintained his lead over his BRS rival in all the rounds during the counting of votes at the Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy indoor stadium here.
The bypoll was necessitated by the death of BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath in June this year following a heart attack.
BRS fielded his widow Sunitha as its candidate.
Consequent to the Jubilee Hills win, the strength of ruling Congress rose to 66 in 119-member Telangana Assembly.
Congress leaders and activists were in joy as Yadav's victory became certain during the counting of votes.
They burst crackers and distributed sweets at Gandhi Bhavan here, the headquarters of Congress in Telangana.
The victory of Congress in Jubilee Hills by-election, preceded by its win in the bypoll to Secunderabad Cantonment segment held last year, further strengthens Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy's leadership.
Though the outcome of the by-election would have no bearing on the government's stability, it was seen as a test of the Congress government's popularity.
The Jubilee Hills by-election became crucial for BRS as it drew a blank in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, preceded by its shock defeat in the 2023 assembly polls.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president B Mahesh Kumar Goud said the party candidate's win in the bypoll is an endorsement of the Revanth Reddy government's performance.
The success of Congress in the bypolls to Secunderabad Cantonment seat last year and Jubilee Hills now shows that the people are satisfied with CM Reddy's leadership and the government's welfare programmes, he said.
"When BRS won zero seats in 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it was clear that it did not have any future in the state. BRS has failed to retain its seat now. The verdict of the people of Jubilee Hills is that BRS has no place in the state," Goud told reporters in Nizamabad.
The Congress government would work as per the aspirations of the people for the remaining three years of its current tenure and the party would win 100 of the total 119 seats in the next assembly polls in 2028 , he said.
BRS Working President K T Rama Rao said the bypoll result unambiguously showed that his party is the alternative to the ruling Congress.
Asserting that the BRS has effectively exposed the Congress government's failure during the last two years, he said the grand old party did not win any bypolls from 2014 to 2023, but managed to come to power in the assembly polls in 2023.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, BJP leader and Union Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy pointed out that the AIMIM supported the Congress candidate. Of the total four lakh votes in Jubilee Hills, Muslim voters constitute 1.49 lakh.
Moreover, the Congress and BRS distributed money on a large scale and the state government did not cooperate with the Election Commission, he alleged, favouring elimination of money power in the elections.
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Sujit Nair raises concerns over speculation of DMK-AIADMK understanding to block TVK
Chennai: Journalist and political commentator Sujit Nair has expressed concern over speculation that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam could explore a post-poll understanding to prevent Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam from forming the government in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media post, Sujit Nair said the election verdict in Tamil Nadu reflected a clear public demand for political change and argued that the mandate should be respected irrespective of political preferences.
Referring to reports and political discussions surrounding a possible understanding between the DMK and AIADMK, he said he hoped such developments remained only speculative conversations and did not turn into reality.
Nair stated that if such an alliance were to take shape, it would raise serious questions about ideological politics in the country. He said TVK had emerged through a democratic electoral process and that the legitimacy to govern in a parliamentary democracy comes from the people’s verdict.
According to him, attempts to prevent an electoral winner from forming the government through unexpected political arrangements may be constitutionally valid, but many people could view them as politically opportunistic.
He further said that such a move could particularly affect the political image of the DMK, which has historically projected itself around ideology, social justice and opposition politics. Nair said that in ideological terms, the DMK appeared closer to TVK than to the AIADMK, and joining hands with its long-time political rival only to remain in power could weaken its broader political narrative.
He added that the same questions would apply to the AIADMK as well, as the party had spent decades positioning itself against the DMK and such an arrangement could create discomfort among its cadre and supporters.
Drawing a comparison with Maharashtra politics in 2019, Nair said he had expressed similar views when the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the Assembly elections.
He said post-poll alliances between long-standing political rivals often create a public perception that ideology and electoral mandates become secondary when political power equations come into play.
Nair also said such developments increase public cynicism towards politics and reinforce the belief among voters that ideology is often sidelined after elections.
He maintained that the Tamil Nadu verdict was emphatic and said respecting both the spirit and substance of the mandate was important for the credibility of democratic politics.
