Telangana elections: Congress fields minority candidates in 3 seats; 6 women among 55 names

Hyderabad: The All India Congress Committee for Telangana released its first list of candidates on Sunday morning.

The first list shows 17 Reddys, 12 BCS, 12 SCs, three Muslims, seven Velmas, three Brahmins and two STs candidates among the 55 candidates announced by the party on Sunday morning.

Apart from party heavyweights such as Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Revanth Reddy, Congress legislative party leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, former ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, T Jeevan Reddy and Duddilla Sridhar Babu, there are first timers who have been given a chance to prove their mettle by the party.

The polling for the Telangana Assembly elections is scheduled for November 30. There was a total of 1,000 applicants for the 119 Assembly seats. Each constituency has seen a minimum of four applicants and a maximum of 10 applicants.

The Congress party’s first list was created after several meetings by the party’s screening committee and ground surveys carried out by a team headed by Sunil Kanugolu, the poll strategist of Congress.

There are six women candidates on the list.

Saritha Thirupathaiah (Gadwal)

Nalamada Padmavathi Reddy (Kodad)

Singapuram Indira (Ghanpur Station)

Seethakka (Mulugu)

Dr Kota Neelima (Sanathnagar)

Mogili Sunitha (Goshamahal)

Three Muslims on the first list

The candidates from the Muslim minority community include Mohammed Feroz Khan (Nampally), Osman Bin Mohammed Al Hajri (Karwan), and Shaik Akbar for the Malakpet constituency.

Speaking about the Muslim minority representation in the first list, a source from Congress said, “The choice of candidates in MIM stronghold is not good. Candidate selection in Chandrayangutta, Bahadurpura and Yakutpura constituencies is wrong. Chandrayangutta is a Muslim-dominated area and selecting a Backward Class candidate for it is not right.”

Others stated that many factors went into selecting from the list of candidates who had applied for tickets. The socio-economic background and positive relationship of the candidates with the people in the constituency are among the reasons for making the selections.

BCs find representation

The Backward Class community has found representation in the first list which has made other candidates in the community hopeful. BCs have been demanding 34 seats from the Congress party and so far 12 BC candidates have been selected.