Going to its second poll, the Kukatpally Assembly constituency looks poised for a keen and closely fought contest with almost all the major political parties fielding their candidates.
Seeking to woo an electorate of 4.41 lakh voters, 2.45 lakh male and 1.95 lakh female, there are 29 aspirants in the race including 14 independents.
The finish could be very close as all the major political parties are coming out with extensive campaign plans.
A melting pot of people from different regions, states and cultures, Kukatpally was actually carved out of Khairatabad Assembly constituency before the 2009 elections. In its maiden election, Kukatpally Assembly constituency elected Jayaprakash Narayan of Lok Satta Party in the 2009 polls.
The electoral debut of the constituency which also marked the debut of Lok Satta in the Assembly had the former bureaucrat humbling his nearest rival Vaddepalli Narsing Rao of the Congress by more than 15,000 votes.
Spread out predominantly on either side of the Mumbai Highway, Kukatpally shot into limelight following the extensive housing activity taken up here to accommodate the burgeoning city limits a few decades ago and later came into sharp focus due to real estate and proximity to the IT belt of Madhapur.
The area has a population that cuts across regions and cultures and thus apart from a considerable numbers from Seemandhra, it has families from other States such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odissa and Bihar settled here earning it the oft repeated sobriquet of ‘settlers’ colony’.
For this round of elections, Mr.Jayaprakash Narayan was expected to be the candidate again on behalf of Lok Satta but moving his electoral battle to Malkajgiri parliamentary constituency, had Katari Srinivasa Rao entering the fray.
The Congress has fielded old Bowenpally corporator, M.Narasimha Yadav, who was earlier with Praja Rajyam Party. The TDP has entered M.Krishna Rao while TRS has fielded G.Padma Rao.
In terms of infrastructure and amenities, Kukatpally has been facing all the teething problems of a new and expanding suburb. The Road Over Bridge (RoB) near Hitec City MMTS station which reduced travel time between KPHB and Madhapur, took years to take shape and not before Mr.Jayaprakash Narayan took up sustained campaign for it.
“In the last five year, Rs.850 crore worth works were taken up in the constituency which helped address issues of traffic, to a large extent issues of drinking water, protecting government properties from encroachments and improving school education,” Mr.Katari Srinivasa Rao says. Drinking water supplies still needed to be paid more attention and for that Krishna Phase-III was very much needed, he adds.
Congress candidate Narasimha Yadav says a host of local issues cry for attention and there was an immediate need to have them addressed. “Traffic is a problem here and locals suffer every day and then there is the issue of pollution which has been troubling for years,” he says while conceding that drinking water happens to be the most troubling factor here.
