All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) reserved the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat as the party President Asaduddin Owaisi came out to be victorious with a record margin of over 3.38 lakh votes.
Mr. Owaisi defeated his nearest rival Kompella Madhavi Latha of BJP by 3,38,087 votes to record his fifth successive victory. He polled 6,61,981 votes where as Kompella Madhavi Latha secured 3,23,894 votes. Mohammed Waliullah Sameer from Congress finished a poor third with 62,962 votes. Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s (BRS), Gaddam Srinivas Yadav polled 18,641 votes.
Owaisi’s victory margin is the highest-ever in this constituency, considered a stronghold of AIMIM. The party has never failed an election from here ever since 1984. The AIMIM Chief had won the seat in 2019 by a margin of 2,82,187 votes against BJP’s Bhagvanth Rao.
This time, the contest had attracted national attention with the BJP fielding Madhavi Latha, an entrepreneur and classical dancer.
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Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also campaigned in her support in the constituency. Another central minister Anurag Singh Thakur had also conducted a roadshow in the constituency. PM Narendra Modi had addressed a public meeting in Hyderabad in support of BJP candidates for Hyderabad, Secunderabad and surrounding constituencies.
In April, Prime Minister Modi had showered praise on Madhavi Latha as he was impressed by the points she raised during the programme ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ on a television channel. The BJP candidate had incited a dispute with her controversial gesture during a religious procession ahead of the election.
The police had booked her for hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims for her provoking gesture during Ram Navami procession. She had pretended to shoot an arrow towards a mosque during the march. Madhavi Latha had also sparked a controversy on the polling day with her action at a polling station. She had asked some burka-clad Muslim women voters to show their faces. Thus the Police had booked her under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and section 132 of the Representation of People Act.
Asaduddin Owaisi thanked the people of Hyderabad for the party’s win. “I would like to thank people, especially women, youth, first-time voters and elderly,” he said. His father late Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi was elected from Hyderabad six times. In 1996, he had overcome BJP’s senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu, who later became Vice President of India.
The demarcation of constituencies in 2008 helped the party further solidify itself. As three urban Assembly segments replaced the rural segments which were earlier part of Hyderabad parliamentary constituency, AIMIM became virtually unbeatable. The party’s strength in the Assembly also rose to seven, from its previous highest tally of five.
In the Assembly elections, the AIMIM retained all seven seats which was held in November 2023.
Author: Sangi Roy
Student of mass communication with a deep passion for print media and reading. My hobbies include traveling, exploring ancient history, and visiting museums.
