Low turnout in Malkajgiri LS segment spooks Congress, BRS, BJP candidates

 Hyderabad: Low turnout in India’s biggest Parliamentary constituency – Malkajgiri is giving jitters to the main contestants from Congress, BRS and BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. Tentatively, the vote percentage in the Lok Sabha segments was reported at 47 per cent and it was expected to reach 50 per cent after the final compilation of the poll data. The total turnout in the 2019 general election was 49.63 per cent.

Since the Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was elected MP from the segment in the last elections, the CM took the fresh elections as prestigious and put all energies to win Congress candidate P Sunitha Mahendar Reddy against the strong BJP and BRS. The Congress is confident of winning the seat despite the reports suggesting BJP candidate Eatala Rajendar was frontrunner in the hustings.

Both Congress and BJP tried hard to shift the BRS vote bank in support of them. However, the predictions were unsure of which party succeeded in the cross voting on the polling day. “On one side, the voting percentage is low and on the other side, the cross voting is worrying the Congress and BJP. The BRS is also confident of winning the seat but the party cadre was not serious in mobilising the voters on the polling day”, leaders said, adding that Revanth Reddy won the seat by a small margin of 7,000 votes in the last election. This time also, the victory margin will not be more due to a tough poll battle between the three parties.

First-time voters and educated voters would influence the winning chances of the three parties in the Malkajgiri seat, analysts said, emphasising that the big challenge before the parties was to find out the voters pulse during the election period.