Jubilee Hills Bypoll Likely to Turn Into Protest Election
Farmers have staged multiple demonstrations and road blockades since the latest land acquisition notification in August but claim the government has refused to engage with them.
Hyderabad:Will the Jubilee Hills bypoll turn into a mass protest ballot like the Nalgonda and Nizamabad Lok Sabha elections of 1996 and 2019, which saw hundreds of candidates filing nominations? The possibility looms large as three two groups — the Mala community JAC and the Regional Ring Road (RRR) affected farmers — have threatened to flood the bypoll with nominations to register their anger against the state government.
The Mala Caste Associations JAC has warned it would file 200 nominations to protest what it calls “continued injustice” over SC sub-categorisation, while the RRR-affected farmers have announced plans to field 300 candidates to draw national attention to the alleged irregularities in the revised road alignment, making the Jubilee Hills bypoll potentially one of the most contested in recent political history.
In 1996, the Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituency recorded an unprecedented 480 candidates after the Jala Sadhana Samithi, frustrated with the fluoride crisis, fielded over 500 nominations to highlight government apathy. The Election Commission was forced to print newspaper-size ballot papers and extend polling hours to accommodate the flood of contestants. Again, in 2019, Nizamabad witnessed 179 nominations when turmeric and red jowar farmers protested against the Centre’s failure to establish a National Turmeric Board and provide Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their crops.
Te same spirit of dissent seems to be converging in Jubilee Hills. At a press conference in the city on Monday, Mala JAC president Mandala Bhaskar said the community had been suffering immense losses in education, employment and promotions following the introduction of SC categorisation. He accused the state government of deliberately undermining the Mala community’s prospects in all sectors and vowed to make Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy “realise the magnitude of the injustice.”
“Despite repeated representations to the Congress and other parties, our grievances have been ignored. Filing 200 nominations in the Jubilee Hills bypoll will be our way of protest,” Bhaskar declared. He demanded that the government amend the categorisation, enhance reservation benefits, and ensure fair roster point allocations.
Parallelly, anger is intensifying among farmers across Nalgonda, Yadadri-Bhongir, Rangareddy and Vikarabad districts over the RRR new alignment, which they allege was altered to spare influential landowners while acquiring the lands of small and marginal farmers. The RRR Farmers’ JAC has given the government time until October 15 to withdraw the revised alignment, warning that from October 16 to 21, at least 200 farmers would file nominations in Jubilee Hills to amplify their protest.
Farmers have staged multiple demonstrations and road blockades since the latest land acquisition notification in August but claim the government has refused to engage with them. “The new alignment will destroy thousands of acres of fertile land and displace hundreds of families,” said a JAC leader, adding that the mass nomination plan aims to force the government to respond and withdraw revised RRR alignment.
