Tight Races Force Leaders to Get Migrant Voters From Hyderabad to Surat

 Karimnagar: With polling for municipal and corporation elections concluding on Wednesday, candidates in the erstwhile Karimnagar and Warangal districts undertook extensive mobilisation efforts targeting migrant voters.

Recognising that narrow margins could determine the outcome, contestants intensified outreach weeks in advance, focusing on voters residing outside their native municipalities.

Candidates arranged special transportation for students and professionals based in Hyderabad. For those employed in industrial centres such as Mumbai, Bhiwandi and Surat, travel was facilitated through online bookings and digital transfers.

In the Singareni coal belt, efforts centred on workers posted in Ramagundam, Bhupalpally and Mandamarri. Family members were contacted and urged to ensure their return to native municipalities across the two districts. In several wards, dedicated teams tracked absentee voters through mobile contacts and offered to meet travel expenses to secure their presence before polling concluded.

Bhupalpally municipality recorded 107 candidates contesting across 30 wards. Of the 52,726 registered voters, local estimates indicated that around 10,000 reside in cities including Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad. Candidates reportedly used digital platforms such as PhonePe to transfer travel funds, seeking to facilitate their participation.

In Mahbubabad, where 1.27 lakh voters were eligible, outreach teams were formed to contact an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 residents living in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Vijayawada. The teams were tasked with coordinating their return for polling.

The mobilisation drive was shaped by past electoral precedents. In the 2014 Peddapalli Nagar panchayat elections, two candidates were tied and the result was decided by a single postal ballot.