HYDERABAD: Malkajgiri is the largest Lok Sabha constituency in the country. The 31 lakh voters here, understandably, have a long list of complaints. And now they have a chance to ask their prospective representative in New Delhi why none of their problems have been solved yet.
Several development projects in Malkajgiri have for long been only proposals. Some proposals have been kept pending for years while many promises have been forgotten. In the voters’ minds are issues such as the change of building by-laws in the Cantonment area, construction of railway under-bridges at some location, closure of roads by the Local Military Authority and revival of polluted water bodies in industrial areas such as Qutubullahpur. Candidates seeking election here have the unenviable task of convincing voters that they can finish these pending projects and actually solve their problems.
Malkajgiri constituency was formed in 2008 and the first election here was held a year later. In 2009, the victor was Congress’ Sarvey Sathyanarayana and in 2014, it was TDP’s Ch Malla Reddy (he later defected to TRS). Malla Reddy, with 5,23,336 votes, had defeated TRS’ Mynampally Hanumantha Rao with a margin of 28,166 votes.
The prominent candidates this time are TRS’ Marri Rajashekar Reddy, Congress’ A Revanth Reddy and BJP’s N Ramachander Rao. Rajashekar Reddy is the son-in-law of incumbent MP Malla Reddy.
‘Settlers’ are a big demographic in Malkajgiri. Due to historic and economic regions, the constituency has seen inward migration of voters from all over the country, primarily Andhra Pradesh. It will be interesting to see if the latter choose to vote in Telangana, as their home State is witnessing is an interesting Assembly-cum-Parliamentary election scheduled on the same day i.e., April 11.
The Assembly segments of Secunderabad Cantonment and Malkajgiri have a sizeable population of voters with roots in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Most of these families are employed in Central government organisations like the Railways and Defence establishments.
