Muslims, Yadavs hold the key

Hyderabad: Minority and Yadav votes are likely to be crucial in the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency as they are in sizable numbers in at least three to four Assembly segments.

The Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency is cosmopolitan constituency, which has posh localities like Secunderabad, Jubilee Hills and Khairatabad. It also has market areas like Nampally and Musheerabad.

Traditionally, the Congress and BJP have been registering victories in successive elections but this time the TRS is aiming to wrest the seat from these two national parties by virtue of its performance in the recently-held Assembly elections.

There are seven Assembly segments in the Secunderabad Lok Sabha, including Secunderabad; Sanathnagar, Khairatabad, Jubilee Hills, Amberpet, Musheerabad and Nampally.

While the TRS represents in six constituencies, its friendly party AIMIM holds the Nampally constituency. There are total 19,54,813 voters in Secunderabad out of them 10,18,912 are male voters, 9,35,844 female and 57 third gender voters.

There is sizable number of Muslim votes in Nampally, Musheerabad and Amberpet constituencies. This was the reason why leaders, including president K Lakshman (Musheerabad) and G Kishan Reddy (Amberpet) had lost the Assembly elections. As per the estimates, there are 32 per cent Muslims in the constituency.

Apart from the Muslim minorities, there are a good number of Yadav voters in Khairatabad, Musheerabad and Nampally. According to an estimate, there are close to 3 lakh Yadav votes in the constituency.

This is one of the reasons that the Yadav candidates Bandaru Dattatreya (Kuruma Yadav) and M Anjan Kumar Yadav have been victorious since 1991 (except for PV Rajeshwar Rao who won in 1996-98). According to political analysts, consolidation of Yadav votes can be a deciding factor.

While the TRS and Congress have fielded leaders from Yadav community, including Talasani Sai Kiran Yadav and M Anjan Kumar Yadav respectively, interestingly the BJP has fielded a leader from upper caste Reddy community.

The TRS candidate is banking on the strength of the party in six segments and the support of AIMIM from their constituency. The Congress candidate is banking on the traditional vote base of the party and eyeing Muslim votes.

Kishan Reddy is banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi factor and also his contribution as the MLA in Amberpet and services to the party as president. It would be interesting to see where the Muslim minority votes go.

The AIMIM had earlier fielded candidate from Secunderabad but this time the party may not field because of its alliance with TRS. Both the Congress and TRS leaders feel that Muslims would vote for them.

Anjan Kumar Yadav had won on the Congress ticket in 2004 and 2009 with the support of MIM. Earlier, in 2004 general elections, Anjan Kumar won from here defeating Dattatreya with a margin of 68,752 votes.

Whereas in 2009 general elections, Anjan Kumar improved his performance and won for the second consecutive time from this constituency with a margin of whooping 1,70,167 votes.

In the year 2014, riding on the Modi wave, Dattatreya won with a margin of 2,54,735 votes defeating Anjan Kumar. AIMIM candidate had secured 1,45,120 votes causing a dent in the Muslim votes to the Congress candidate.