Jaago Voter…Choose Your Leader: BRS strengthens hold on Jubilee Hills

Hyderabad: The Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency which was constituted in 2009 has continued to be the fortress for the BRS since the last two terms as it has a dominance of majority of votes. This constituency was carved out of the sprawling Khairtabad Assembly constituency and is now the home to the Telugu film industry hub of Film Nagar and some of its studios such as Ramanaidu Studios, Padmalaya Studios and Annapurna Studios. MLA Maganti Gopinath has been representing the constituency for the last two terms and has a strong hold.

According to sources, BJP is keen to field a strong candidate for the Jubilee Hills seat and is in discussions to bring in a former MLA to contest from the segment

Jubilee Hills constituency is part of Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency and has over 3.8 lakh voters. Contrary to the belief, it has more of middle-class and weaker section colonies than rich and posh areas falling under its jurisdiction including Borabanda, Yousufguda, Srinagar Colony, Yerragadda, Shaikpet, Tolichowki and bastis like Rehmathnagar and Venkatagiri. Moreover, some parts hold a home to most of the Telugu movie industry's actors, business tycoons, and leading politicians.

Maganti Gopinath from the BRS is the sitting MLA from the constituency. Gopinath from TDP ticket won the seat in 2014 Assembly election against Naveen Yadav V from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) with a majority of 9,242. And in 2018, he defeated INC’s contender P Vishnuvardhan Reddy with 16,004 majority of votes. In 2009, INC’s P Vishnuvardhan Reddy won the seat. Though MLA Maganti Gopinath is representing the constituency for the last two terms and has a strong hold, other contenders like INC’s P Vishnuvardhan Reddy and Independent candidate Naveen Kumar gave him a tough competition but failed to grab the seat.

In the 2014 elections, Maganti Gopinath of the BRS won the seat by securing 50,898 (30.78 percent) polled votes. While Naveen Kumar V from AIMIM secured 41,656 (25.19 per cent) votes, INC's Vishnuvardhan Reddy got 33,642 (20.34 percent) votes and BRS’s B Ramulu Mudiraj secured least 18,436 (11.15 percent).

Candidates who contested in 2018 from Jubilee Hills were Maganti Gopinath (BRS), Ravula Sridhar Reddy (BJP), P Vishnuvardhan Reddy (INC), Mohammed Meraj Khan (BSP), Anji Babu Yadav Peddala (Bahujana Left Party), Gonti Sreekanth (SamaikyandhraParirakshana Samithi), Mohammed Zakiuddin (Majlis Markaz-e-Siyasee), Shaik Ghouse Pasha (New India Party), Syed Salauddin from (AAP), B Suseel Kumar (Prajaa Swaraj Party).

In 2018, with ticket from BRS, Gopinath won the seat with 68,979 votes (44.3 percent), INC's Vishnuvardhan Reddy stood second with 52,975 votes (34.02 percent), as an independent candidate Naveen Kumar gets 18,817 votes (12.09 percent) and BJP’s candidate R Sridhar Reddy got 8,517 votes (5.47 percent).

The party is undertaking various development activities like building flyovers, and new roads under SRDP, among others and alsobuilt a cable-stayed bridge at Durgam Cheruvu. The other party candidates seek to convince that the constituents are unhappy with the sitting MLA who originally won on TDP ticket and later joined the TRS and neglected development. The constituency has issues common to many areas including bad roads, overflowing drainage, open nalas.