A look at the track record of these four contending parties in the earlier elections in the last 10 years in the GHMC region reveals a distinct pattern.
Published Date – 10:16 PM, Wed – 22 November 23
By Syed Amin Jafri
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area with 24 constituencies and 96 lakh voters is poised to play a crucial role in the current Assembly elections. Nine constituencies are slated to witness four-cornered contests among AIMIM, BRS, Congress and BJP. The remaining 15 constituencies will see mainly triangular fight among BRS, Congress and BJP. Understandably, the stakes are very high for all four parties as the GHMC accounts for 20 per cent of Telangana’s Assembly seats and almost 30 per cent of the State’s electorate. The region is home to minorities—Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Jains—who make up almost one-third of the electorate.
Both the BRS and AIMIM are putting up a spirited campaign to retain the 16 and seven seats respectively held by them in the outgoing Assembly. The BJP is fighting to retain its sole seat and add a few more to its tally. The Congress is making determined efforts to open its account and wrest a few seats in the GHMC area. But how serious is the electoral battle being fought by these major players? What are their prospects in the GHMC region, which is not only the State’s sprawling metropolis but also its prime growth engine?
A look at the track record of these four contending parties in the earlier elections in the last 10 years in the GHMC region reveals a distinct pattern.
TRS (now BRS) steadily built up its base in this region since 2014 when it had won only three Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat in the simultaneous elections. BRS gained control of the GHMC both in the 2016 and 2020 municipal polls and took up the development of civic infrastructure in this region under its stewardship. In the four successive elections–GHMC polls in 2016 and 2020 and Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in 2018 and 2019 respectively—BRS polled a higher percentage of votes than its three main rivals—BJP, AIMIM and Congress.
Among these three parties, the performance of Congress and BJP has shown mixed trends whereas AIMIM stuck its ground in its strongholds—Hyderabad parliamentary constituency and seven assembly segments under its kitty. The Telugu Desam, which had put up a good show in 2014 Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in GHMC region, has virtually disappeared from the scene after its disastrous performance in the 2018 assembly elections which it had contested in alliance with Congress as part of “Maha Kutami.”
In the 2014 simultaneous elections, TDP-BJP alliance won 14 assembly seats (9 TDP and 5 BJP), followed by AIMIM with seven seats and TRS with three seats. BRS, TDP, BJP and AIMIM had won one Lok Sabha seat each. In the 2018 assembly polls, BRS led the pack with 14 seats with AIMIM getting seven seats, Congress two and the BJP just a lone seat. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BRS, BJP, AIMIM and Congress bagged one seat each.
However, the Congress exposed its real strength by securing just one division out of 150 in GHMC polls in 2016. The Grand Old Party won two divisions out of 150 in the 2020 GHMC elections. Its vote share decreased from 10.4 per cent in 2016 to a mere 6.69 per cent in 2020. BJP, on the other hand, picked up just four divisions in 2016 but improved its tally to 48 divisions in the 2020 polls. Its vote share rose from 10.33 in 2016 to 35.7 in 2020.
BRS sitting members are seeking re-election in Patancheru, Qutubullahpur, Kukatpally, L B Nagar, Maheshwaram, Rajendranagar, Serilingampally, Musheerabad, Amberpet, Khairatabad, Jubilee Hills, Sanathnagar and Secunderabad. BRS has fielded new faces in Malkajgiri and Uppal and Secunderabad Cantonment. The lone sitting BJP MLA is again in the fray in Goshamahal. AIMIM has replaced three of its sitting members and renominated four sitting members, besides sponsoring new faces in Jubilee Hills and Rajendranagar, which it is contesting once again. A sitting member of BRS Mynampalli Hanumantha Rao is contesting in Malkajgiri as Congress candidate after defecting to that party.
Incidentally, the Congress nominees include former MPs Madhu Yashki Goud (LB Nagar) and Anjan Kumar Yadav (Musheerabad), former MLA Kichannagari Laxma Reddy (Maheshwaram) and two GHMC corporators V Jagadeeshwar Goud (Serilingampalli) and Ms P Vijaya Reddy (Khairatabad). The BJP has fielded former MLAs T Nandishwar Goud (Patancheru), Kuna Srisailam Goud (Qutubullahpur), N V S S Prabhakar (Uppal), C Krishna Yadav (Amberpet), Chintala Ramachandra Reddy (Khairatabad), Marri Shashidhar Reddy (Sanathnagar) and former MLC N Ramchandra Rao (Malkajgiri). Thus, in several constituencies, sitting and former legislators are crossing swords on behalf of rival parties. A few corporators are engaged in electoral contests with sitting legislators of their rival parties.
The GHMC region is unlikely to throw up any surprises in the Assembly elections, though both the Congress and BJP are seeking to turn tables on BRS and AIMIM. It remains to be seen whether BJP will raise its tally and the Congress open its account in the GHMC region this time.
