This bypoll will be a barometer of Congress, BJP and BRS popularity

Byelections in Telangana in the last five years have become the barometers to gauge the parties’ popularity, and the bypoll in Jubilee Hills constituency will go through the similar test.

As the polling booths open in the morning on Tuesday (November 11), they will not just decide the MLA, but reshape the future of three political parties in Telangana, and also top-notch politicians, whose strengths will be keenly watched by their bosses in Hyderabad and New Delhi.

The three main contenders — Congress, Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — have already turned it into a high-voltage drama. It would be apt to say that this contest is more between Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy than between the contestants.

For the Chief Minister or the Union Minister, the result may not pose an immediate threat, but for Mr K. T. Rama Rao, it will be a test of his leadership as he not only has to retain the sitting seat, but also prove a point of his leadership skills in the absence and silence of BRS chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao.

This election also comes after the exit of his sister K. Kavitha from the BRS, straining family relations, and would reveal how people would gauge this unsavoury family shakeup. Though she has not directly participated in the campaign, her outbursts against the BRS leadership is certainly a worrying factor in the close fight that is expected.

The constituency has over 4 lakh voters, with one-third of them being the Muslims, who would decide the fate. The entire campaign narrative built by the Congress, BRS and the BJP too hovered around the same. Congress inducted Mohd. Azharuddin into Revanth Reddy’s cabinet while BRS went on a spree of attracting ward-level Muslim leaders.

The BJP’s campaign, which was initially against the Congress and the BJP over development, picked up the Hindu-Muslim narrative with the entry of Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay. The rabble-rousing speeches of the Minister focussed on polarisation.

But the low turnout of urban voters in the previous elections is worrying the Congress and the BRS, even as they have made up plans to increase it to around 55% from the usual 45% average. Congress has focussed on every 100 voter group appointing an incharge while the BRS has activated all its strengths. The BJP is confident of retaining its vote share.

The outright support of the MIM for the Congress candidate may tilt the balance, given that this election has been turned into a Hindu-Muslim issue.