GHMC by-poll: Congress wrests Lingojiguda seat from BJP

Congress candidate D. Rajshekar Reddy defeated his nearest rival Akhil Goud of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by a margin of 1,200 votes.

Bharatiya Janata Party city president N. Ramchander Rao had convinced the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) not to contest the Lingojiguda by-poll. He was in for a shock when BJP lost to Congress in the division.

BJP's political strategy appeared to have gone haywire since 2020. Congress had stood poor third in the 2020 elections. However, the party regrouped in all these months and wrested Lingojiguda division from BJP.

BJP failed to encash on the sympathy factor following the death of its winning candidate A Ramesh Goud. He died before he took oath as a Corporator, which necessitated the by-poll.

Congress fielded D Rajasekhara Reddy again. BJP fielded Ramesh's son Akhil Goud this time. The reason behind BJP losing the seat to Congress is that the top leaders did not focus much on the by-poll.

BJP chief Bandi Sanjay was also unhappy over Ramchander Rao and other leaders meeting Rama Rao. BJP even failed to ensure that its voters reached the polling booths.

The polling percentage also remained low. In December polls, BJP candidate Ramesh Goud secured 10,340 votes, while TRS candidate got 7,529 votes and Congress bagged just 4,007 votes.

This time, BJP could manage only 5,968 votes, whereas Congress candidate Rajasekhara Reddy's votes increased from 4,007 to 7,240. The ward had a total electorate of 47,379. Of whom, 13,591 cast their votes.

After registering the victory, Reddy was congratulated by party working president A Revanth Reddy at his Banjara Hills residence. The votes were counted on Friday at the Victoria Memorial Home School in Kothapet.