Jubilee Hills By-Election Sees 48.43% Voter Turnout; Polling Largely Peaceful
Hyderabad, Nov 11: Over 48 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in the by-election for the Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
According to the Election Commission, a voter turnout of 48.43 per cent was recorded at 6 p.m. when polling officially concluded. However, the final percentage is expected to rise slightly as voters standing in queues at the close of polling were allowed to cast their votes.
Polling was largely peaceful across all 407 polling stations, with only minor incidents reported.
The constituency, which includes the upscale Jubilee Hills area along with several middle-class and weaker-section colonies and slums, witnessed *moderate polling throughout the day. The voter turnout this time surpassed the *47.58 per cent recorded during the 2023 Assembly elections.
More than 4 lakh voters were eligible to cast their votes in this by-election, which was necessitated by the death of sitting MLA Maganti Gopinath of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
A total of 58 candidates contested the bypoll, with the main fight among the *ruling Congress, **opposition BRS, and **BJP. The BRS fielded **Sunitha Gopinath, wife of the late MLA, while the Congress nominated **Naveen Yadav. The BJP once again fielded *Lankala Deepak Reddy.
The counting of votes will be held on November 14.
Tension flared at a few polling stations in the evening when BRS leaders, including candidate Sunitha, staged protests alleging rigging by the ruling party. Heated arguments broke out between BRS leaders and police officials at some locations.
Meanwhile, police have registered three cases against several individuals, including *three Congress MLAs, for alleged **violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). Two cases were filed at the *Madhuranagar Police Station against Congress MLAs *Beerla Ilaiah, **Rama Chandra Naik, and **Ramdas Maloth. Another case was filed at the *Borabanda Police Station against former BRS MLAs Dasyam Vinay Bhaskar and Methuku Anand.
The BRS alleged that several Congress legislators from outside the constituency were seen near polling stations and accused the Election Commission of inaction despite complaints.
In a first, drones were deployed for surveillance at all polling stations. About 150 drones were used for centralized aerial monitoring and real-time situation analysis. Hyderabad Police Commissioner V. C. Sajjanar personally monitored the polling process from the Integrated Police Command and Control Centre.
Additionally, live webcasting was conducted from all polling stations to ensure transparency and peaceful polling.
