AIMIM wins Hyderabad Local Authorities MLC seat; Mirza Riyaz defeated BJP’s Goutham Rao by 38 votes

Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has won the Hyderabad Local Authorities MLC seat. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the AIMIM were the only parties that contested the election to the MLC seat of the Hyderabad Local Bodies.

It was for the first time in 22 years that polls were held on this seat. Usually, elections to the Hyderabad Local Authority MLC are avoided because candidates have been elected unanimously for the past few years.

78.5 per cent polling

The biennial election was necessitated as sitting member M S Prabhakar Rao completes his term on May 1. The polling was conducted on Wednesday with a total of 112 voters and saw a voter turnout of 78.5 per cent.

The AIMIM and BJP were the main contenders because the Congress, which had 14 votes, had offered to back the Hyderabad-based party, and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) refrained from participating in the polls.

In terms of numbers, the AIMIM, with 49 votes (seven MLAs, one MLC, one Lok Sabha MP, and 40 corporators from Hyderabad district), had a strong chance of winning the seat even before the polls, thanks to Congress' support, which did not field a candidate.

However, despite minimal promised votes, the BJP fought the elections, which has become a heated topic among the political circles.

BJP did not want to offer AIMIM a handout

The BJP did not want to offer AIMIM a handout, therefore it entered the contest expecting a fierce battle. The BJP has 29 votes, including corporators and MPs, MLAs, and MLCs. The BRS, which has 20 votes, issued a whip instructing all of its leaders to vote no.

This is because it does not want to be regarded as siding with either the BJP or the AIMIM, both of which have shifted their allegiance to the Congress. However, AIMIM candidate Mirza Riyaz Ul Hassan Effendi defeated BJP candidate N Goutham Rao with a margin of 38 votes. Riyaz secured as many as 63 votes while the BJP candidate got 25 votes.

The total number of eligible voters in the election was 112, which included 81 Corporators of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and 31 ex-officio members. The ex-officio members include nine MPs, 15 MLAs, and seven MLCs. While AIMIM and BJP have nine ex-officio votes each, Congress has seven and BJP has six.

The AIMIM got the highest number of votes, followed by the BJP. AIMIM got 49 votes and received support from other parties, official sources said.