Farmers, Failed Group-1 Candidates in Jubilee Hills Bypoll Race
Nominations for the bypoll began on October 13, and as of October 16, a total of 46 candidates have filed 56 nominations.
Hyderabad: Farmers affected by the Lagcherla and Pharma City (now Bharat Future City) land acquisitions, along with unsuccessful TGPSC Group-1 candidates, are gearing up to file nominations for the Jubilee Hills Assembly bypoll to draw national attention to their grievances. Members of the Mala Castes Association Joint Action Committee (JAC) and farmers displaced by the Hyderabad Regional Ring Road (RRR) project have also announced plans to enter the electoral contest before the October 21 nomination deadline.
Nominations for the bypoll began on October 13, and as of October 16, a total of 46 candidates have filed 56 nominations. Among them, only BRS nominee Maganti Sunitha represents a major political party, while the remaining 45 are Independents.
With four working days left, a surge of nominations is expected from individuals and groups using the poll process as a platform to protest against alleged forcible land acquisition, alleged irregularities in the Group-1 recruitment process, and the alleged injustice faced by the Mala community due to SC sub-categorisation.
The Mala Castes Association JAC has already warned it would file up to 200 nominations to protest “continued injustice” in the implementation of SC sub-categorisation. Simultaneously, farmers affected by the RRR project have announced plans to field nearly 300 candidates to highlight irregularities in the revised road alignment and to seek compensation and justice for lost lands.
In November 2024, the state government withdrew its proposal to establish a pharma cluster in Lagcherla, Vikarabad district, following widespread resistance, but it later decided to set up a multipurpose industrial park in the same location. Farmers from Rotibanda Thanda, Lagcherla, and Pulicherla villages have strongly opposed the new project and demanded that their lands not be acquired.
Likewise, landowners in Rangareddy district whose lands were taken over by the previous BRS regime for the Hyderabad Pharma City — now rebranded as Bharat Future City by the present Congress government — are seeking cancellation of the project and return of their land.
Several TGPSC Group-1 aspirants, who failed to qualify, are demanding a re-examination, alleging large-scale irregularities in the selection process. Collectively, these diverse groups plan to flood the nomination process in the Jubilee Hills bypoll, turning it into a symbolic protest against the state government's alleged apathy towards their concerns.
