Hyderabad: In the upcoming Telangana Assembly elections in around 25 constituencies the ‘settlers’ will be a deciding factor.
The settlers number about one crore voters, and include people not only from Andhra Pradesh but also from other states.
The general impression is that the ‘settlers’ in Telangana state are only from Andhra Pradesh – Seemandhra and belong to the Kamma community, and that they play a vital role in the elections.
While this is only partially true, political parties give preference to the community in the selection of candidates.
This in a way perpetuates the perception of the dominance of this section.
The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee has assured to give some Assembly seats to AP-origin candidates in the upcoming elections.
The TRS has assured steps for the development of settlers.
Given the larger number of AP origin voters, however, they get more recognition than those from other states even though they have a sizeable population in some constituencies.
But, apart from the people of Andhra Pradesh origin, there are Tamilians, Keralites, Kannadigas, Marwadis and others in large numbers.
According to an estimate based on the state government’s integrated household survey, the population of people of Andhra Pradesh origin is 58 per cent. In the undivided Ranga Reddy, Medak, Warangal, Nizamabad and Nalgonda districts, their population is about 53 per cent.
In areas like Kukatpally, Lingampally, LB Nagar, Musheerabad, Patancheru, Quthbullapur, Malkajgiri, Medchal and Uppal, the percentage of settler population is 58.5.
In the constituencies where the people of AP origin are in greater numbers, those belonging to the Kamma caste are the deciding factor only in some constituencies.
Those from the Kapu, Brahmin and other castes hold the key in other constituencies.
Their numbers vary widely.
For example, the Kamma population in Banswada constituency is about 45,000 and 30,000 in Nizamabad Rural and 23,000 in Bodhan, all in Nizamabad district. Kodada in Nalgonda district has about 30,000 people from the community. In the Malkajgiri constituency, the Brahmin community has a dominant 85,000 population. In Kukatpally, the Kapu community has 1.6 lakh members.
In some constituencies, more than one caste is dominant. In LB Nagar, there are about 3 lakh people from the Kamma and Brahmin communities.
In Serilimgampally, voters from the Kamma community dominate the 2.5-lakh strong electorate of non-TS origin.
In Quthbullapur, the 2.5-lakh ‘settler’ community is dominated by Kshatriyas and those from the Backward Castes.
In Patancheru, Kapu, Kamma and Brahmin community voters form a dominant part of the 75,000 settlers.
In Sanathnagar, the 50,000 settlers mainly comprise Kamma, Kapu and BC voters.
