Telangana: BRS special survey on seats won by narrow margins in last election

Hyderabad, June. 18: The BRS leadership has commissioned a special survey in 34 assembly constituencies where its candidates won with a narrow majority in the last 2018 assembly elections. These candidates include BRS MLAs and those who won from other parties and defected to the ruling party.

The main focus is on constituencies where party candidates won by less than 5,000 votes. Social Welfare Minister Koppula Eshwar who won by 440 votes in Dharmapuri is also included. Polls are being conducted to assess the winning prospects of these MLAs and to look for alternative candidates in the constituencies where the poll results suggest candidates are less likely to retain their seats.

Party sources said BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao will hold one-on-one meetings with MLAs from these constituencies to discuss the party’s strategies to increase its winning prospects in such constituencies. Similarly, fortnightly survey reports are being received from these constituencies.

With a margin of less than 5,000 votes, Minister Koppula Eshwar won Dharmapuri by 440 votes. Congress rival Adluri Laxman is facing a possible recount after his appeal. The key to the strongroom where the EVMs are stored has gone missing in controversy.

Two other BRS MLAs Manchireddy Kishan Reddy (376, Ibrahimpatnam) and Bollam Mallaiah Yadav (756 votes, Kodad) won by a margin of less than 1,000 votes. Kaleru Venkatesh (1,016, Amber Pette), Gadari Kishore (1,847, Tungaturthi), Metuku Anand (3,092, Vikarabad), Jaipal Yadav (3,447, Kalvakurti), Gampa Govardhan (4,557 votes, Kamareddy) and N. Diwakar Rao (4,838 votes, Mancherial) is the other BRS MLA with a margin of less than 5,000 votes.

Atram Sakku (171 votes, Asifabad), P. Rohit Reddy (2, 875, Tandoor), Haripriya Banoth (2,887, Yellandu) and Vanama Venkateswara Rao (4,139 votes,) who joined the ruling party after the election, who won from the Congress by a margin of 5,000 votes, then defected to the BRS. Kothagudem) and Lavudya Ramulu, who won as an independent from Vaira by 2,013 votes, joined the BRS after the election.

BRS candidates who won with a majority between 5,000 and 10,000 votes were Energy Minister G. Jagadish Reddy (5,967 votes), Endowment Minister Allola Indrakaran Reddy (9,271 votes, Nirmal) and Narendra (9,319 votes, Kodangal).

These include Education Minister Sabita Indra Reddy (9,227 votes, Maheswaram), Patnam Chirumarthi Lingayah (8,259 votes, Nakrekal) and Kandala Upender Reddy (7,669 votes, Palare), who won on a Congress ticket and later defected to BRS.