It has been a high-pitched poll campaign ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in Hyderabad, a political slugfest that courted significant controversy. Though all major political parties have fielded candidates, the contest is largely between two — the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Kompella Madhavi Latha.
While Mr. Owaisi is seeking reelection to the Lok Sabha for the fifth time, Ms. Latha is a political debutante. Meanwhile, after quite some delay, the Congress fielded Mohammed Waliullah Sameer and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) fielded Gaddam Srinivas Yadav.
“Election campaigns have seen polarising issues. There was the bow and arrow episode on Ram Navami in Siddiamber Bazaar by the BJP candidate. She also discussed about women wearing hijab, made comments about beef and objections to this were raised,” said M. A. Waseem, a resident of Noor Khan Bazaar. “While the Majlis (AIMIM) needs to do much more work, it is not that they have not done anything. Clean water is a necessity everywhere and Hyderabad constituency is no different. They have installed RO plants. In fact, there is one near my house in the Balshetty Khet playground. There are more in the Azampura area as well,” he explained.
