Close Contest in Jubilee Hills By-Election: Congress Takes Early Lead

As vote counting begins for the Jubilee Hills assembly by-election, Congress candidate Naveen Yadav leads with 8,911 votes according to preliminary trends, followed closely by BRS's Sunitha Gopinath with 8,864 votes. BJP's Deepak Reddy Lankala trails with 2,167 votes. A counting center is set up at Kotla Vijay Bhaskar Reddy Indoor Stadium.

In the early hours of Friday, vote counting commenced for the Jubilee Hills assembly by-election in Hyderabad. Congress candidate Naveen Yadav took the lead with 8,911 votes according to initial trends, while BRS contender Maganti Sunitha Gopinath closely followed with 8,864 votes. BJP's Deepak Reddy Lankala recorded a distant third with 2,167 votes.

The counting process is being conducted at the Kotla Vijay Bhaskar Reddy Indoor Stadium in Yousufguda. This electoral exercise was necessitated by the death of BRS legislator Maganti Gopinath. The assembly poll took place on November 11, with the Jubilee Hills constituency logging a low voter turnout of 10.02 percent.

This by-election is part of a larger electoral event with eight assembly constituencies across six states and one Union Territory going to polls. Additionally, Congress' decision to field Naveen Yadav, a BC leader, is seen as a strategic move to bolster support among Muslim voters—a demographic with significant presence in the constituency.

(With inputs from agencies.)