There is still a long way to go for the completion of counting in the by-elections to Dubbak assembly seat in Telangana’s Siddipet district, but the outcome is going to be definitely a lesson for the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, irrespective of whether it wins the election or not.
Going by the trends of the counting on Tuesday, the BJP has given the TRS a run for its money. At the time of writing this piece, the BJP was leading over the TRS by a margin of 3,734 votes at the end of tenth round.
In the first five rounds, BJP candidate M Raghunandan Rao established a clear lead over his nearest rival Solipeta Sujatha Reddy of the TRS. In the sixth round, however, the TRS candidate managed to secure a slender lead of 353 votes over the BJP and in the seventh round, it secured another 182 votes lead.
If this lead continues, the TRS might scrape through with a slight lead over the BJP at the end of 23 rounds. Yet, it is not an achievement for the TRS though it may retain its winning streak, as the party does not have the history of losing any by-election since the formation of Telangana state.
The Dubbak seat belongs to the TRS, whose candidate Solipeta Ramalinga Reddy had won it with a margin of over 67,000 votes in December 2018 elections. So, even if the TRS wins the seat with around 10,000 votes, it is a big loss of credibility for the party.
Dubbak bypoll has gained significance because it is adjacent to Gajwel assembly constituency, represented by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Siddipet represented by KCR’s nephew T Harish Rao, who went all out to secure a win for the TRS this time.
So, winning the seat with truncated margins will be nothing short of defeat for the TRS and a big boost to the BJP. And if the BJP wins the seat even with a slender margin, it will be a major victory for the party and will definitely a morale booster for it to fight the next assembly elections.
For the Congress party, the Dubbak bypoll result is of no significance, as it only indicates that the party has been rejected by the people lock, stock and barrel. The people have no confidence in the Congress as there is no guarantee that even if its candidate Ch Srinivas Reddy wins the seat, he will not take much time to switch over to the TRS.
Hence, they preferred the BJP over the Congress, which might as well lose its deposit in the by-elections.
