Stage set for voting tomorrow

Hyderabad: The high-voltage bypoll to Munugode Assembly constituency in Telangana on November 3 is expected to influence the future course of State politics in the run-up to next year's Legislative Assembly election and is crucial for all three major political parties in the State.

While the ruling TRS would seek to prove its dominance, the BJP, with a newfound energy following the recent electoral wins, is hoping for yet another upset of the regional incumbent. A win for the Congress would give it the much required boost ahead of the hustings in 2023.

The TRS, recently renamed as Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), aims to demonstrate its dominance in State politics and go national with a big win here. The message the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led party would like to send at the national level is-- it can take on the BJP and win. A loss in the bypoll would hamper not only its national plans but also embolden the opposition ahead of the Assembly polls.

The BJP, meanwhile, hopes to give a push to its plans to emerge as the alternative to TRS with a victory in Munugode. The party is on a high following its victories in Dubbak and Huzurabad Assembly bypolls and also the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election during the last two years. Even if it ends up as the runner-up behind the TRS, it can still claim to be the main opposition, leaving the Congress in the third spot.

For the beleaguered grand old party, it is almost a do or die battle in view of its below par performances in the 2014 and 2018 Assembly elections and the subsequent bypolls. If Congress loses, it would be a double whammy for the party as Munugode was its sitting seat. There is a Left aspect to the contest as well, with the CPI and CPI (M) announcing support to the TRS and actively campaigning for the ruling party's victory.

The total number of eligible voters in the predominantly rural Munugode Assembly constituency in Nalgonda district, about 85 km from Hyderabad, is over 2.41 lakh - 1,21,720 male and 1,20,128 female. Over 60 per cent of the electorate reportedly belongs to the backward classes. A high-octane campaign, unprecedented in many ways, was witnessed for the bypoll ever since Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy quit Congress and also as MLA in August and joined the BJP. While 47 candidates are in the fray, the main contest is confined to Reddy, who is seeking re-election on BJP ticket, former MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy of TRS and Congress' Palvai Sravanthi. While banking on the popularity of Raj Gopal Reddy, the BJP has deployed Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, State unit president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar, party MLAs Eatala Rajender and M Raghunandan Rao among other leaders for campaign.

It was, however, the TRS that conducted an almost unheard of campaign with several State ministers, a number of MLAs and other leaders canvassing in support of their candidate covering every inch of Munugode. This had prompted the BJP to allege that the TRS has shifted the State secretariat to Munugode. The TRS attacked Raj Gopal Reddy by alleging he had switched over to BJP out of consideration of business favours.

TRS Working president K T Rama Rao had announced that he would "adopt" Munugode and personally focus on its development.