The Telangana Congress has successfully convinced nine rebel candidates to withdraw from the electoral race on the last day of nomination withdrawal. These rebels had filed nominations after being denied tickets by the party to contest the assembly elections. However, they have now withdrawn their nominations in favor of the official candidates, except for rebel Congress candidate Sanjeev Reddy in Adilabad.
Congress leaders utilized their experience in dealing with rebel candidates in Karnataka and other states to form specific teams tasked with persuading them to withdraw. These teams offered alternative posts or the opportunity to contest in the general elections as incentives for withdrawal.
One incident of high drama occurred at the home of Patel Ramesh Reddy, who had filed a nomination from Suryapet. AICC national secretary Rohit Chaudhary and senior Congress leader Mallu Ravi visited him to request his withdrawal and support for the party’s official candidate, Ramreddy Damodar Reddy. However, supporters of Patel Ramesh Reddy turned violent and attacked Mallu Ravi after his request for a private conversation. Inside the house, Reddy, his wife, and others were seen crying and pleading with the leaders to support his candidature. Eventually, Reddy withdrew from the race after being promised the opportunity to contest in the parliamentary elections.
This is not the first time Patel Ramesh Reddy has been denied a ticket. In 2018, he was also promised the chance to contest parliamentary elections from Nalgonda but was replaced by Huzurnagar MLA Uttam Kumar Reddy. Reddy had joined the Congress from the Telugu Desam Party along with Revanth Reddy before the 2018 assembly elections.
The denial of a ticket to Reddy is seen as a power struggle between the Revanth Reddy camp and the Reddy leaders within the Congress party. With the nomination withdrawal deadline now passed, the battle lines are drawn for the voting day on November 30.
According to the Election Commission, Telangana has over 3.26 crore eligible voters, with an almost equal number of men and women. The Serilingampally segment has the highest number of voters, with over 7.32 lakh, while Bhadrachalam has the lowest with 1.49 lakh electors.
During the nomination scrutiny process, election officials found 2,898 valid nominations for the November 30 assembly elections, while 606 nominations were rejected.
