Congress Poised to Capture Jubilee Hills Seat from BRS

Hyderabad: The ruling Congress in Telangana appears on track to win the Jubilee Hills Assembly seat from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) as counting for the by-election continued on Friday.

After six of the 10 rounds of counting, Congress candidate Naveen Yadav expanded his lead to more than 19,000 votes over his closest rival, Maganti Sunitha of the BRS.

Yadav maintained a steady lead from the very first round and continued to dominate through all subsequent rounds.

BJP candidate Lankala Deepak Reddy, who trailed far behind in third place, left the counting centre visibly disappointed.

Meanwhile, jubilant celebrations erupted at the Congress headquarters, Gandhi Bhavan, where party workers burst firecrackers and distributed sweets.

Counting is being conducted under strict security at the Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Stadium in Yousufguda. Election officials have set up 42 counting tables, with the entire process divided into 10 rounds.

District Election Officer R. V. Karnan said each round would take around 40 minutes, and the final result is expected by 2 p.m.

Tuesday’s bypoll recorded a voter turnout of 48.49%, with 1,94,631 votes cast—99,771 men, 94,855 women, and five others. A total of 101 postal ballots were also received.

The Jubilee Hills constituency has 4,01,365 registered voters, including 2,08,561 men, 1,92,779 women, and 25 others.

A total of 58 candidates contested the by-election, which was necessitated by the death of sitting BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath. The BRS fielded his wife, Maganti Sunitha, while the BJP re-nominated Deepak Reddy.

Exit polls from major agencies had predicted a Congress victory, projecting the party to secure 46–48% of the vote, with the BRS expected to follow at 41–42%. The BJP was projected to finish a distant third with 6–8%.

In the 2023 Assembly election, Gopinath had achieved a hat-trick by defeating Congress candidate Mohammed Azharuddin by 16,337 votes. Gopinath secured 80,549 votes, Azharuddin polled 64,212, and Deepak Reddy placed third with 25,866. AIMIM’s Farazuddin secured just 7,848 votes.

This time, the AIMIM, led by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, supported the Congress candidate.

With inputs from IANS