The forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in Telangana, notification for which has been issued on Thursday, is likely to see keen contests in at least some constituencies.
The fight was primarily between the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and the Congress in several constituencies in 2014 when the elections were held in the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh; triangular contests were witnessed in some constituencies in 2019 with the BJP gaining significant ground in some constituencies. In Adilabad Lok Sabha seat, for instance, the BRS (then TRS) was in straight contest with the Congress in 2014 elections when the BRS candidate Godam Nagesh won with the comfortable majority of 1.71 lakh votes over the Congress rival with BJP nowhere in the picture.
The situation has undergone a sea change in 2019 with the BJP emerging as one of the main contenders in the poll and its candidate Soyam Bapu Rao won the poll with a margin of close to 60,000 votes. Interestingly, the BJP, TRS and the Congress polled over three lakh votes each in the election sharing 10.1 lakh votes of the total 10.6 lakh votes polled in the constituency between them. The BJP also won from Karimnagar, Secunderabad and Nizamabad constituencies in the election showing its emergence as a major contender in the north Telangana region from where it won few seats in the recent Assembly elections.
Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat saw a huge number of 185 contestants in the 2019 elections when sitting MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha, daughter of BRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao, lost to BJP’s Arvind Dharmapuri with close to 71,000 votes. Zaheerabad constituency witnessed a keen contest between the BRS and the Congress where the BRS candidate B.B. Patil scraped through with a margin of 6,229 votes over his Congress rival Madan Mohan Rao. The same was the case with Bhongir where Congress’ Komatireddy Venkat Reddy managed to win over his nearest rival Boora Narsaiah Goud of the BRS with a margin of 5,219 votes.
In Malkajgiri, one of the largest constituencies in terms of voter strength, Congress nominee and Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had to sweat it out for defeating his nearest BRS rival Marri Rajasekhar Reddy. Mr. Revanth Reddy won with a majority of 10,919 votes, considered small margin in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP showed its strong presence in the constituency with its nominee N. Ramachandra Rao polling 3.04 lakh votes.
There are constituencies like Medak where the BRS candidate Kotha Prabhakar Reddy registered an emphatic victory with over 2 lakh votes on his nearest Congress rival G. Anil Kumar. The dynamic political landscape of the State has witnessed several changes since 2019 elections with BRS hit by the defection of major leaders to either the Congress or the BJP after its defeat in the Assembly elections in December, thus ensuring that the forthcoming elections are likely to see interesting triangular contests at least in come constituencies.
