T strong in Secunderabad

40,000 Mudiraj and 55,000 Addagutta basti votes hold key

Hyderabad: Secunderabad assembly constituency holds an interesting equation in these polls. Formed in 1952 the constituency saw polls 14 times, Congress won seven times, TDP five, TRS and Janata Party one each. The constituency has high percentage of BC voters at 33 per cent, followed by minorities at 15 per cent and railway employees at 10 per cent. There are nearly 30 bastis in the constituency which forms about 40 to 45 per cent. These voters decide which party will win the polls. There is a common belief that the party, which wins this seat, will form government.

Sitting MLA Jayasudha is facing strong opposition from the Congress camp and may not be renominated. A section in the Gandhi Bhavan says that she has her eyes set on Lok Sabha and may even switch parties. City leaders, like former minister Danam Nagender, are said to be in favour of Mary Ravindranath, who won the seat in 1989 polls.

In the previous polls the Congress managed to swing the votes of minorities in their favour, due to their alliance with MIM. Now, with MIM severing ties with the party, Congress is worried.

The TRS, on the other hand, is counting on the TRS sentiment in Secunderabad and Musheerabad areas. Though BC community forms 33 per cent of votes, here it’s the 40,000 votes of Mudiraj community that hold the key. These voters were with TDP since its inception but in 2004, TRS’s Padma Rao managed to swing the votes in his favour. TRS is hoping for a repeat performance this time too. There are 30 bastis of them Addagutta is key with 55,000 votes which is almost one fourth of the total votes (2,26,001) in the constituency.

Minorities, who constitute 15 per cent, traditionally vote for Congress. But, with MIM severing it ties with Congress and Asaduddin declaring that he will field a candidate for the Secunderabad Parliament, it is highly likely that the votes would go the party or the candidate that the MIM party backs.

Railway employees who form 10 per cent of the voters are known to switch their votes from party to party in every election. It is unlikely that all the 10 per cent will vote for a single party. All the parties are likely to share the votes.

According to the statistics with the election commission, in the past two polls the winning majority wasn’t more than 4,500 votes. Manda Krishna is very active in the area, and has a steady following. He can swing a few votes.

BJP and TDP are in pre-poll alliance talks and reports suggest that TDP might contest. Currently Pawan Goud and PL Srinivas are vying for the ticket from TDP. TDP is banking on 40,000 Mudiraj voters, but sources say that the both the leaders aren’t strong enough to give a fight on behalf of TDP.

Going by the current trends, the constituency is geared up for an interesting fight.