Vote Counting Underway in Jubilee Hills Byelection

HYDERABAD, India — Vote counting for the Jubilee Hills Assembly byelection began Friday morning at 8 a.m. at the Kotla Vijay Bhaskar Reddy Stadium. The venue saw large crowds as strict security measures were enforced, limiting access to those with valid passes.

During the initial round of counting, Congress candidate Naveen Yadav took the lead with 8,911 votes. He was closely followed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) candidate Maganti Sunitha, who garnered 8,864 votes. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, Lankala Deepak Reddy, lagged behind with 2,167 votes, according to the Election Commission of India.

As counting progressed into the second round, Yadav extended his lead to 17,874 votes, while Sunitha secured 14,879 votes, giving Yadav a margin of 2,995 votes. Reddy’s tally rose slightly to 3,475 votes.

The counting process began with the examination of postal ballots, followed by electronic voting machine (EVM) votes. Officials set up 42 counting tables to expedite the process, as votes from 407 polling stations were to be counted in ten rounds.

The Jubilee Hills byelection was necessitated by the passing of BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath in June. The results are significant for both the ruling Congress party and the BRS as they reflect the political dynamics in the region.

A total of 194,631 votes were cast in the election, representing a voter turnout of 48.49%. The Election Commission deployed 186 officials to oversee the counting process, aiming for a smooth and transparent exercise.