BRS faces big defeat in its stronghold
Loses its vote share drastically
Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party faced a big defeat in the Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency, one of its strongholds, and the party’s vote share has dipped drastically to 38 per cent in this byelection, compared to the 44 per cent recorded in the 2018 elections. The Jubilee Hills seat has been one of the strongholds of the BRS in the city after the formation of Telangana and its candidate Maganti Gopinath had won from this seat three times consecutively.
During the 2014 elections, Maganti Gopinath contested the election on the Telugu Desam ticket when the yellow party was in alliance with the BJP. He was victorious, securing 50,898 votes and accounting for 30.78 per cent vote share.
Later, Gopinath joined the BRS (TRS then) and consolidated his place in the constituency by winning the seat with a margin of 68,979 votes, accounting for 44.30 per cent vote share.
This was the time when the party was at its peak in the state, winning 88 of the 119 Assembly seats in Telangana.
During the 2023 Assembly elections, despite the Congress party coming to power, the BRS continued its winning streak in the Jubilee Hills seat. Party’s candidate Maganti Gopinath won from here, securing 80,549 votes, constituting 43.94 per cent vote shar. The byelection was necessitated by the demise of Gopinath. The party, as per the tradition, gave the ticket to the family member of Gopinath. Maganti Sunitha was made the candidate of the party.
Now, in the byelection, the party’s candidate, Maganti Sunitha, could secure 74,259 votes, which constitutes 38.13 per cent votes, i.e. a dip by 5.81 per cent in the bypoll. However, BRS leaders said that the party still had the backing of people in the city. BRS working president KT Rama Rao had said that people have not completely rejected the party and showed that the party was an alternative to the Congress in the state. He said that seven byelections have been held in the state after 2014 and the BRS had won five seats, but the Congress could not win a single seat.
