The Congress party registered a politically significant and resounding victory on Friday in the by-election for the Jubilee Hills assembly constituency in Hyderabad. The party successfully wrested the seat from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), with Congress candidate Vallala Naveen Yadav winning by a substantial margin of 24,729 votes.
The by-poll was necessitated by the death of the sitting BRS MLA, Maganti Gopinath, in June of this year. His wife, Maganti Sunitha (BRS), was the nearest rival to Naveen Yadav.
After the meticulous completion of 10 rounds of vote counting, the Election Commission of India declared that Naveen Yadav polled 98,988 votes, securing the victory against Sunitha, who polled 74,259 votes. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, Lankala Deepak Reddy, finished a distant third with only 17,061 votes, consequently losing his deposit. A total of 58 candidates had contested the by-election, which saw a relatively low turnout of just 48.42% of the constituency’s 4.01 lakh voters on November 11.
Political Significance and CM’s Reaction
Scenes of jubilation, marked by firecrackers and cheering, erupted at the Congress office immediately following the result announcement.
Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy hailed the outcome, emphasizing that the Congress had secured a commanding 51% of the total polled votes. The Chief Minister interpreted the back-to-back by-poll victories—following a previous win in Secunderabad Cantonment—as a clear sign that the people of Hyderabad are now appreciating his two-year-old government’s focus on welfare and developmental programmes.
“In the November 2023 assembly elections, the people of Hyderabad did not give their mandate to the Congress,” Revanth Reddy said, “It clearly shows the people of Hyderabad have begun appreciating our efforts.” He urged leaders of the BRS and the BJP to practice self-introspection and cooperate with the government, rather than engaging in negative campaigning on social media.
Strategic Victory Built on Community Support
The Congress victory was highly strategic, centered on the successful positioning of Naveen Yadav, a 42-year-old prominent leader from the Yadav community (OBC). CM Revanth Reddy is believed to have favored Yadav for the ticket because of his OBC background, allowing the Congress to champion the issue of OBC reservations against the upper-caste candidates fielded by the BRS (Kamma leader Maganti Sunitha) and the BJP (Reddy leader Lankala Deepak Reddy).
Furthermore, the Congress received crucial support from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which decided not to field its own candidate. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi issued a public appeal during the campaign, urging the Muslim electorate to extend full support to Naveen Yadav in the “interest of development,” consolidating a significant vote bank behind the Congress candidate.
Naveen Yadav’s Journey and BRS Counter-Attack
The new MLA for Jubilee Hills, Vallala Naveen Yadav, is a successful real estate entrepreneur and youth leader who runs the voluntary organization “Nava Yuva Nirman.” His political journey began with the AIMIM, but after being denied a ticket, he contested as an independent in 2018. Following a direct appeal from former cricketer and then-Congress leader Mohammed Azharuddin, he withdrew his independent candidature in 2023 and formally joined the Congress, positioning him perfectly for this by-election.
Despite the defeat, BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao maintained that the by-election result established the BRS as the “only alternative to the Congress in Telangana.” He asked his party workers to remain resolute, claiming the BRS successfully held the Congress accountable for its unfulfilled promises regarding its “six guarantees.”