The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Debutants for India’s biggest constituency

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Thursday, May 15, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Debutants for India’s biggest constituency

M.L. Melly Maitreyi

The constituency has now grown to a voter population of 10.6 lakh

HYDERABAD: The bypoll in Khairatabad constituency has several special distinctions. All the three serious contestants are debutants to the election arena and the constituency, the biggest in the country would lose its status when next general elections are held, due to the delimitation.

The constituency nurtured carefully by the late Congress leader P. Janardhana Reddy (PJR), has now grown to a voter population of 10.6 lakh. The Assembly segment will see the debut of P. Vishnuvardhan Reddy, PJR’s son, into the electoral politics along with two other new faces – Arifuddin of TRS and K. Srinivasa Rao of Lok Satta.

However, in view of the indelible reputation as a mass leader of PJR, it was a forgone conclusion for the party leadership to field his son P. Vishnuvardhan Reddy, a Youth Congress leader, in his place.

Thanks to the popularity of PJR, an impression had gained ground initially that all political parties would facilitate a unanimous election of Mr. Vishnuvardhan Reddy. But then while the TDP and left parties refrained from putting up a candidate, the TRS changed its mind and fielded a candidate and so did Lok Satta.

In all 10 candidates are in the fray though sympathy wave is expected to favour Mr. Vishnuvardhan Reddy over his rival contestants of TRS and Lok Satta.

Khairatabad mostly remained a Congress bastion with late PJR getting elected from the constituency in 1978, 1985, 1989, 1994 and 2004, TDP’s Vijayarama Rao won from here in 1999.

In the last elections PJR polled 2.10 lakh votes, while his K. Vijayarama Rao secured 1.71 lakh votes.

Ten other candidates including MCPI and BSP had lost their deposits.

Despite the three major contestants being debutants, each one of them seems to be confident of his own prospects with the election campaign set to be intensified in the coming weeks.

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