Huzurabad by-poll results: Congress yet to sail a sinking ship, gets mere 1.46% votes
Congress turncoat P. Kaushik Reddy who had given a tough fight to Eatala in 2018 proved to work in favour of the BJP. The Congress vote in the 2021 by-election transferred to the BJP.
By Sumit Jha Published on 2 Nov 2021 3:35 PM GMT
Huzurabad: It was an easy victory for former health minister Eatala Rajender in the Huzurabad by-poll, winning with a majority of 24,068 votes. But, the Congress ship is yet to surface in Telangana. In this by-election, it has instead gone down further rather than coming up at a playing level.
In the Huzurabad constituency, Congress candidate Balmoor Venkat Narsing Rao was only able to secure 3,012 out of the total 2,05,236 votes polled, a mere 1.46 percent. BJP which had a 0.95 percent vote share in the 2018 election got the majority, 52.02 percent votes. While it was expected to be a three-way contest, Congress, from the beginning, did not look like it would give a fight to the other two parties.
In the 2018 election, Congress had secured 61,121 votes, 34.60 percent of the total votes, only second after the then TRS candidate Eatala Rajender.
The mood for this election was set five months ago when Eatala Rajender resigned as the Huzurabad MLA. People had to decide between a loyal party and a loyal leader. Congress was nowhere in sight during the five months. So it was unable to change the mood of the voters in 15 days while other parties had been wooing them for the last five months.
Congress turncoat P. Kaushik Reddy who had given a tough fight to Eatala in 2018 proved to work in favour of the BJP. The Congress vote in the 2021 by-election transferred to the BJP.
After the defeat, TPCC president Revanth Reddy said, "Congress supporters do not feel disappointed. Beginning tomorrow, the party will amplify its activities and hit the ground. We will put up a tough fight against TRS in 2023."
It will be a tough task for Congress to emerge as an Opposition party when BJP is making inroads in rural Telangana.
