BJP makes inroads into Dubbaka bags second MLA seat

Telangana: In a nail biting election, the Bharatiya Janta Party clinched victory at last hour by winning the Dubbaka by-polls against the ruling party TRS. The saffron party candidate M Raghunandhan Rao secured win with a narrow majority of 1079 against TRS candidate Solipeta Sujata. This win marks a second legislative seat for the BJP in Telangana.

In one of the most interesting by-polls observed in the recent times, the Dubbaka results opened with BJP in the lead upto the 15th round giving a stiff competition to the TRS. The Congress which was trailing far behind secured a few thousands in candidate C Srinivas Reddy's home ground towards the 12th round. However, tables tuned when TRS candidate Solipeta Sujata grabbed the lead position by a few hundreds. The saffron and the pink party were neck and neck, giving jitters to the party supporters. Lawyer turned politician Raghunandhan Rao and widow of late TRS MLA Solipeta Sujata took turns to grab the lead position. In nothing less than an cricket match, supporters and election enthusiasts sat clue to the election counting. BJP won at the end of the 23rd round while TRS stood second.

However interestingly, while the BJP claimed victory and TRS defeat, the Chief Election Commissioner announced that counting of 4 EVM was pending following a technical glitch.

But the final results were not of great difference, the BJP won by 1079 votes. According to the statistics BJP candidate M Raghunandan Rao bagged 63,352 votes, TRS candidate – Solipeta Sujatha- 62,273 votes, Congress candidate- Cheruku Srinivas Reddy – 21908 votes. Total number of votes counted – 1.64 lakh

BJP's win in Dubbaka marks an entry of a second legislator from the party in the Telangana Assembly. Newly elected M. Raghunandhan Rao will join the lone BJP MLA from Goshamahal T. Raja Singh in the House. With this, the lotus party, led by Telangana president Bandi Sanjay, has two Assembly seats, four Parliament seats - Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Secunderabad and Adilabad - and one seat in the Legislative Council.

On BJP making inroads political analyst Mr Mohan Guruswamy told NewsMeter,"TRS party's political strategy of grabbing legislators after the 2014 general elections to weaken the congress has paved way for the BJP. TRS founder and chief minister K ChandraShekar Rao strategy of pulling senior Congress and TDP leaders into the party and allocating them important portfolios, has in return made space for the BJP. This is a convincing win not a political victory. It also shows that there is an under current wave against the TRS. Another election might amplify the wave. Also, after a certain period public begins to dislike a family in power. The Dubbaka by polls is a lesson for the TRS to focus on building the party not personalities".

The election results came as a rude shock to TRS senior leader and Minister T Harish Rao, who is acknowledged as a giant killer in every election. History has proved that Rao has always been to win seats in legislative and in parliamentarian polls. Minister Harish Rao who was given the task to bring back the by-polls into TRS's kitty accepted defeat by thanking the voters for standing by the party.

While TRS party president K T Rama Rao accepting defeat, thanked the party supporters for all the seats they won in a span of 6 years. In a brief press conference after the poll results on 10th November, KTR assured welfare for the people of Telangana.