BRS-MIM truck forces pink party to withhold nominee

Hyderabad: The friendly alliance between BRS and AIMIM has forced the ruling party to keep on hold the name of contender from the Nampally constituency in the candidadates’ list released by CM K Chandrashekar Rao.

Nampally is one of the bastions of AIMIM and only a seat in Secunderabad Parliament constituency might be an easy grab once again. Feroz Khan who remains a vocal critic will be claiming the Congress ticket once again.

The BRS, keeping on hold the name in the list, has generated a spark in the constituency. Political analysts feel it will be a tough contest between the MIM and the Congress if they choose Feroz Khan again. However, the ruling party has been soft towards MIM with a friendly alliance. In the past elections too, BRS chose K Hanmantha Rao in 2014, and Ch Anand Kumar Goud in 2018 who received 4% and 12% votes respectively. The Congress is trying to make a comeback by promising a makeover of the constituency.

The MIM rival candidate Feroz Khan has turned out to be the only contender who is giving a tough competition to the Majlis MLA for the last three terms. Khan contested on behalf of three parties in the last three terms and stood second. In 2009, he represented the Praja Rajyam Party, Telugu Desam Party in 2014 and Congress in 2018.

Though he has been shifting to parties and stood second, Khan is the only major contender against the Majlis. Political analysts says being a turncoat might be a major reason for him to lose the poll battle.

Nampally was carved out of Asifnagar Assembly constituency before the 2009 elections as per the Delimitation Act of 2002. Since it was constituted, MIM has been winning for the last three consecutive terms. The two-time MLA Jaffar Hussain Meraj won the seat with over 9,000 votes in 2018.

The MIM has been claiming developmental works in the segment. Meraj has been raising various issues, including health, infrastructure and civic development; the rival candidate challenges there is no major development.

Khan has always been alleging that the constituency showed a large number of discrepancies in electoral rolls. He charges that there are about 1.13 lakh bogus votes. Some are having votes though they are not residents. The votes of those who passed away long ago were not deleted; the votes were polled in 2009, 2014 and 2019 elections despite objections. For about 35,000 votes there is no residential address.

Nampally is a mix of slums and residentials colonies. The mix of working class, State and Central government employees. It has around 3.12 lakh voters.