HYDERABAD: Congress candidate Vallala Naveen Yadav won the Jubilee Hills Assembly bypoll in Telangana with a margin of over 30,000 votes against rival BRS candidate Maganti Sunitha.
The Election Commission of India is yet to officially announce Naveen Yadav’s victory. Polling for the Jubilee Hills segment was held on November 11, and the counting took place on November 14.
The bypoll was necessitated by the untimely demise of BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath. Followingly, the BRS fielded Gopinath’s wife, Sunitha, as its candidate.
In all rounds of counting, the Congress candidate maintained a clear lead over the BRS nominee. BJP candidate Lankala Deepak Reddy lost his deposit and left the counting centre.
While the BRS appealed to voters on emotional grounds following the sudden death of the MLA, the ruling Congress urged voters to choose 'development' over 'sentiment'.
Four defeats, 16 years of wait
The 42-year-old Congress candidate Naveen Yadav entered politics in 2009, contesting as a corporator from the Yousufguda division on an AIMIM ticket, but lost to the TDP candidate.
Later, he contested unsuccessfully as an MLA from Jubilee Hills in 2014 on the AIMIM ticket. He again contested the GHMC elections from the Rahmathnagar division as an AIMIM corporator candidate and lost.
In 2018, he contested as an Independent candidate from the Jubilee Hills Assembly segment and faced defeat. After multiple setbacks, Naveen Yadav finally secured victory as an MLA and joined the Congress in 2023.
PCC chief Mahesh Kumar Goud said that the Congress victory in the bypoll proved that there was “no place for the BRS in the state”. He expressed confidence that the Congress would remain in power for the next eight years, predicting that the party would win 100 Assembly seats in the nextAssembly elections.
Several Ministers and ruling Congress MLAs celebrated the victory.
Congress leaders said that the result reflected the people’s endorsement of the welfare and development initiatives undertaken by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy over the past two years.
BRS working president KT Rama Rao said that the defeat was not a “setback” to the party, adding that the BRS would continue to highlight people’s issues.