Published Sep 25, 2026 | 10:50 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 25, 2026 | 10:50 AM
Telangana CM Revanth Reddy and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.Telangana CM Revanth Reddy and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. (Photo | x.com)
Synopsis: The Majlis could emerge as either the king or the kingmaker in the Khairatabad bypoll, where Muslims account for 26 to 29 per cent of the electorate. Its electoral history and relationship with Danam Nagender could prove crucial to the outcome.
If a bypoll is held in Khairatabad Assembly constituency in the capital, the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) could emerge as either the king or the kingmaker.
The outcome could be determined by whether the party supports the Congress, leans towards another party, or contests on its own. Muslims account for 26 to 29 per cent of the electorate here. The latest figures from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls indicate that there has not been any significant decline in Muslim voters.
Previous elections show that the Majlis has a direct influence over 10 to 15 per cent of voters in the constituency. Its influence could vary depending on which parties field whom. Whether it contests or not, the Majlis is certain to remain a kingmaker capable of influencing the final result. This is what the electoral arithmetic of the four Assembly and four Lok Sabha elections held in Khairatabad since the 2009 delimitation tells us.
A bypoll to Khairatabad is now unavoidable. The Supreme Court on September 24 dismissed Danam Nagender’s challenge and upheld the Telangana High Court judgment that not only disqualified Nagender, the former sitting MLA, under the anti-defection law, but also ruled that the seat should be treated as vacant from April 23, 2024. The HC judgment had been officially sent to the Secretary to the Assembly Speaker as well as the Election Commission, paving the way for preparations for the bypoll.
Nagender won the 2023 Assembly election as a BRS MLA, but after switching parties, he continued in the post and contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Secunderabad on a Congress ticket, which he lost. This became the basis for his disqualification. Though bypoll results do not necessarily influence or reflect subsequent general elections, both the ruling and opposition parties are certain to treat this election as a prestige battle.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Santosh Nagar flyover bridge in the city, Majlis chief Asaduddin Owaisi made an interesting observation in the presence of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. He said the Majlis’s support in the State was not for the Congress, but only for Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
This is quite different from its earlier political approach. At the national level, the MIM was once a constituent of the Congress-led UPA, but in undivided Andhra Pradesh it differed with the then Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy. After the formation of Telangana, the Majlis maintained an understanding with the BRS, then TRS, and renewed its ties with the Congress after 2023. In the Jubilee Hills bypoll, it extended complete support and played a key role in the victory of Naveen Yadav, from his selection as the candidate to his election as MLA.
While the Majlis contests elections in Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal in the name of protecting Muslim interests, it has not traditionally contested extensively in Telangana or undivided Andhra Pradesh, remaining largely confined to the Old City. This has led to criticism that it indirectly benefits the BJP by splitting Muslim votes in several States, and has left it vulnerable to the charge that it is the BJP’s B team.
It has also faced growing pressure over why it does not contest in Telangana. Khairatabad has over 1.77 lakh voters, including more than 50,000 Muslims. Yet the Majlis did not contest any of the four Assembly elections held after the constituency was formed in its present shape in 2009. It contested the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat only once, in 2014, and secured 8.5 per cent of the vote in the Khairatabad segment. That is why the Majlis becomes crucial here.
Nagender has become so firmly established in Khairatabad that even after he moved away from the BRS two and a half years ago, the party did not prepare an alternative leader. There are reports that it may now consider bringing in the son of senior leader T Srinivas Yadav or another candidate for the bypoll.
Nagender represented the constituency as a Congress MLA in 2009 and won again on TRS/BRS tickets in 2018 and 2023. In 2014, he contested on a Congress ticket and lost to BJP’s Chintala Ramachandra Reddy, who contested as the BJP-TDP alliance candidate. The BJP recorded its highest vote share here, 36.9 per cent, in that election, while its lowest, 12.4 per cent, came in 2009.
The Congress recorded its highest vote share of 39.1 per cent in 2009 and its lowest, 22.4 per cent, in 2014. The BRS secured its highest share, 44.6 per cent, in 2018. In 2009, the seat was allotted to the TDP as part of the Mahakutami alliance, and the BRS did not contest. When it contested the seat in 2014, it secured its lowest vote share here at 13.7 per cent.
Dasoju Sravan had earlier contested once from the constituency on a Congress ticket, while P Janardhan Reddy’s daughter Vijaya Reddy contested twice on YSRCP and Congress tickets. Nagender’s 44.6 per cent vote share remains the highest recorded since the constituency was formed. A portion of the Asifnagar constituency that Nagender had represented before the delimitation became part of Khairatabad after the reorganisation.
In the 1999 election, when prominent city Congress leaders such as P Janardhan Reddy, Kodanda Reddy, Marri Shashidhar Reddy and Mukesh were defeated, Nagender was the only one among them to win from Asifnagar. However, in 2004, under a particular set of circumstances, he was denied a Congress ticket and contested on a TDP ticket, winning the election.
Nagender’s electoral history also shows that the Majlis has directly or indirectly influenced his victories and defeats. In all three elections he won from Khairatabad, the Majlis had an understanding with the respective parties he represented, and the favourable Muslim vote worked to his advantage. Though Nagender was close to YS Rajasekhara Reddy, political circles had alleged that the Majlis played a role in his being denied the Congress ticket from Asifnagar in 2004.
Reports then suggested that the Majlis threatened to field candidates in Nizamabad district if its suggestion was not followed. Nagender subsequently contested on a TDP ticket and won. He later resigned from the TDP and the MLA post to return to Congress. When he contested the subsequent bypoll as a Congress candidate and lost, there was again a political narrative that the Majlis had played a role.
There may be no specific reason established for the differences, but a perception exists that the Majlis and Nagender do not get along. His recent remark in the Assembly that “when it comes to the Majlis people, everything gets done one way or another” has only added to this perception. On one side is this history; on the other is the growing pressure on the Majlis to contest. What decision will it take, and how will it act? The answer could determine the outcome of the Khairatabad bypoll.
Also Read:
‘Perversity in the eye of law’: What the Telangana HC said while disqualifying Danam Nagender
Telangana’s Danam Nagender verdict: A test of the Speaker’s Constitutional credibility
(Edited by R Rajesh Kumar.)
