All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen candidate Mirza Riyaz Ul Hassan Effendi was elected Member of Legislative Council from the Hyderabad Local Authorities (HLA) constituency in Telangana on Friday. He defeated BJP’s N Gautham Rao by 38 votes in the election held on April 23, which saw a voter turnout of 78.5 per cent.
The biennial election was necessitated as sitting member M S Prabhakar Rao will complete his term on May 1.
The contest was primarily between AIMIM and BJP, as the Congress, with its 14 vote,s had offered to support the Hyderabad-based party, while the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) refrained from participating in the polls.
The election involved 112 eligible voters, including MPs, MLAs, MLCs, and corporators, from the Hyderabad district.
As for numbers, the AIMIM, with 49 votes (seven MLAs, one MLC, one Lok Sabha MP, and 40 corporators from Hyderabad district) had a clear-cut chance of winning the seat even before the polls, with Congress’ support that did not field a candidate.
The BJP joined the race, hoping for a tough fight as it did not want to give AIMIM a walkover. The BJP has 29 votes, including corporators and MPs, MLAs, and MLCs. The BRS, which has 20 votes, had issued a whip, directing all its leaders to abstain from voting. This is because it does not want to be seen supporting either the BJP or the AIMIM, which has gravitated towards the Congress.
On the eve of the counting of votes, Returning Officer Anurag Jayanthi told reporters that all arrangements were in place for the counting of votes of the MLC elections that would begin at 8 am on Friday, April 25. Security arrangements and personnel were appointed and special counting tables, CCTV cameras, and police security were set up for vote counting.
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