BRS candidate Naveen Kumar Reddy wins Mahabubnagar MLC local body polls
Hyderabad: BRS candidate Naveen Kumar Reddy won the byelection to the Legislative Council Mahbubnagar local authorities constituency with a 108-vote majority against his nearest rival, Manne Jeevan Reddy of the Congress. Naveen Reddy won the byelection on the first preference votes, despite largescale defections.
Out of 1,439 electors, 1,437 participated in the polling on March 28. The BJP did not field a candidate. ZPTCs, MPTCs and councillors voted in the byelection
Although the BRS won the byelection, it lost the votes of its elected representatives to the Congress. The BRS has a strength of 1,039 but secured 763.
The Congress has a strength of 241 but won 652 votes. About 300 BRS leaders and 100 BJP leaders voted for the Congress.
Excise minister Jupally Krishna Rao, who hails from Mahbubnagar district, claimed that the Congress had registered 'moral victory' while the BRS had registered a 'technical victory'.
He said the Congress did not resort to poaching of BRS leaders like the BRS did when it was in power and hundreds of BRS leaders had voluntarily voted for the Congress, which itself was a grand victory for the ruling party.
Counting of the votes began at 8 am at the Government Boys Junior College. The counting was conducted on five tables. On four tables, 1,200 votes were counted, and 237 on the fifth table.
The byelection was necessitated due to the resignation of Kasireddy Narayana Reddy who won the recent Assembly polls from Kalwakurthy on a Congress ticket.
Jeevan Reddy's defeat was, nevertheless, a setback for the Congress in the native district of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. BRS social media groups posted several messages saying the victory of Naveen Kumar was a gift to the party on Telangana Formation Day.
Expressing his happiness over the victory, BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao, in a media release, said it was an indication of the changing political dynamics.
“This victory within the Chief Minister's home district serves as a testament to the shifting political winds in the state,” Rama Rao said.
He said that the BRS had withstood the ruling party's enticements and the party’s victory shone a light on the failures of the Congress government within six months. He emphasised that this election was a clear demonstration of the electorate's discontent with the ruling party and their trust in the BRS's vision for Telangana.
He reiterated that the BRS has always been, and will continue to be, the only party for Telangana.
After his victory in the elections, Naveen Reddy met former chief minister and BRS president K/ Chandrashekar Rao in his residence at Nandinagar in Hyderabad.
