Rise in Graduate, Teachers’ Voters for Ensuing MLC Elections

Hyderabad: There has been a rise in graduate and teacher voters in the state ahead of the upcoming MLC elections to Teachers and Graduate constituencies compared to 2019 figures. The deadline for the voter enrollment drive ended on Wednesday.

While there was an increase in graduate voters for Nizamabad-Adilabad-Medak-Karimnagar graduates constituency and an increase in teacher voters for Nizamabad-Adilabad-Medak-Karimnagar teachers constituency elections, there was a decrease in teacher voters for Nalgonda-Warangal-Khammam teachers constituency. In Nizamabad-Adilabad-Medak-Karimnagar graduates constituency, the number of voters increased from 1,98,326 in 2019 to 3,38,609 in 2024.

In Nizamabad-Adilabad-Medak-Karimnagar teachers’ constituency, the number of voters increased from 23,103 in 2019 to 26,184 in 2024.

However, in the Nalgonda-Warangal-Khammam teachers constituency, the number of teacher voters decreased from 5,937 in 2019 to 5,696.

The current tenure of the three sitting MLCs is set to end on March 29.

With the deadline for voter enrolment having ended, the ruling Congress, BRS and BJP have shifted their focus on announcing names of their candidates as early as possible in order to concentrate on campaigning to woo graduate and teacher voters.

The Congress is confident of winning all the three MLC seats that are going for polls in March on the back of conducting recruitment drives for youth and promotions and transfers extended to thousands of teachers after a gap of nine years.

The Election Commission will release a draft voters' list on November 23, allowing for objections to be raised until December 9. The final voters' list will be published on December 30.

The three sitting MLCs, whose terms end on March29, include Graduate MLC T. Jeevan Reddy (Congress) from the Nizamabad-Adilabad-Medak-Karimnagar constituency, and two Teacher MLCs—Alugubelli Narsi Reddy (Independent) from Nalgonda-Warangal-Khammam, and Kura Raghotham Reddy (Progressive Recognised Teachers Union-PRTU) from Nizamabad-Adilabad-Medak-Karimnagar.

These MLC elections are of immense political significance for the Congress government, which is set to complete its first year in office on December 7. The outcome of these elections will serve as an important indicator of the public’s sentiment, towards the Congress government’s performance over the past year, particularly among graduate and teacher voters.

The BRS and BJP have been vocal in their criticism of the Revanth Reddy-led government, accusing it of failing to deliver on key promises, including filling two lakh job vacancies for graduates, implementing new pay revision scales for teachers, and clearing four installments of DA arrears for teachers. However, the Congress has hit back, pointing to its achievements like filling up 50,000 posts and plans to fill an additional 65,000 positions in the next few months. The Congress government is also extensively campaigning on giving promotions to 19,000 teachers in June, the first in nine years.

As the election approaches, the three main contenders see it as an opportunity to gauge the pulse of a key segment of voters and determine if there is any anti-incumbency sentiment building against the one-year-old Congress government.