1980 LS polls: Indira Gandhi wins from Medak, Cong-I sweeps TG
In the 1980 Lok Sabha elections, Congress-I swept the Telangana region and won all the 15 seats for the second consecutive time
Pre-poll predictions said the Congress-I would definitely win in united Andhra Pradesh. An Express report dated January 1, 1980 reads, “Opposition to Indira Gandhi’s party in Andhra Pradesh appears to be ineffective in most constituencies due to various factors”
Indira pays darshan to Kamareddy saint
During a 12-hour whirlwind tour of Telangana, Indira Gandhi filed her nomination for the Medak seat, while she was also contesting from Rae Bareli, where she had lost in 1977. On December 4, 1979, an Express report cited a survey conducted by Osmania University as saying, “Several of the voters are not even aware of the fact that she is one of the contestants from the Medak constituency”
However, Indira Gandhi’s charisma and the intensified campaigning bore fruit and a few days later, PM Charan Singh claimed, “An alleged secret pact between the Congress-I and Janata Party thwarted the opposition chances of putting up a common candidate against Indira Gandhi at Medak”
On January 3, 1980, an Express article said that an imported video-tape recorder was used for Indira Gandhi’s campaigning in Medak. “The video projector helps refresh the villagers’ memory about all the good work done by Mrs Gandhi during her regime”.
Meanwhile, the more religious bent of mind expressed that Indira would win “because she had paid a ‘darshan’ to 35-year-old Shabari Mata, a ‘saint’ at Kamareddy before filing her nomination”. Results were in favour of the Cong-I, with Indira Gandhi securing 67.93% votes whereas S Jaipal Reddy of the Janata Party came second with 18.57%
Old City curfew ends 3 hours before polls
In the wake of elections, there were several instances of violence and communal riots reported across Telangana. Communal riots broke out in the curfew-bound Old City, killing four persons and injuring as many as 64 persons. Police patrolling was intensified, shops were shut down and a curfew was put in place
Research: Swethavimala M, Amrutha Kothapally, Pranav M Kiran