Hyderabad: Tamil voters may tilt scales in Cantonment

Hyderabad : Tamil voters will play a key role in the winning prospects of the contestants from Secunderabad Cantonment Assembly constituency in the upcoming Assembly elections. The Tamil voters alone constituted nearly 20 per cent of the total voters. The Leaders were already making efforts to woo the Tamil voters.

The Tamil voters are comprising 53,000, out of nearly 2.60 lakh voters, in the cantonment assembly segment. The Tamil-speaking voters spread across the Secunderabad Cantonment limits which include ward number 5, 6 and 7 - Lothkunta, Trimulgherry, Mud Fort, and Lal Bazar. They were residing in SCB since the British colonial rule. Traditionally, Tamils in the city had been strong supporters of secular parties. In recent times, they are supporting the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the local body elections.

“For a decade majority of our community supported Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) but after the previous election majority of community people had favoured BRS but this election the scenario may be different, as hardly any development activities have taken place, we do not get drinking water regularly and there is no proper rail road connectivity. This election we will vote for the party that speaks and assures development, said Madhav Iyer, Businessman. Raj Kumar, Secretary, Telangana Tamil Sangam, said “The community has contributed to the development of Secunderabad be it in establishing libraries, temples and a few more. But I feel that this time, SCB needs a strong leader who can work for the development of the Cantonment limits that is much desired.”

On the condition of anonymity, few local leaders stated that this ensuing election will witness a tough battle between BRS and other political parties, as Cantonment has been ignored in all the spheres in development activities or any State or Central government scheme benefits.

Already political parties have begun their election campaigns targeting various communities especially the Tamil community, as this community plays a vital role in electing leaders.