Campaigning in the Nampally Assembly constituency began on a polarising note with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and Congress trading barbs, over Congress candidate Feroz Khan reportedly describing a large chunk of the Muslim electorate as possessing a ‘Talibani’ and fanatical mindset. The AIMIM was swift to react and retorted by calling him and his party as being controlled by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
In one corner of the political sparring ring are the AIMIM’s Mohammed Majid Hussain, the former Mayor of Hyderabad. Mr Hussain is known to be a strong candidate, and enjoys the support of the youth in the constituency. That aside, he is strong on his home turf of Ahmednagar ward, and serves as Mehdipatnam corporator. And in the other corner is Feroz Khan. Mr Khan, a fierce AIMIM critic, initially contested on Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party ticket, then on N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam ticket and on Congress ticket in 2009, 2014 and 2018. Mr Khan remained unsuccessful on all three occasions.
In 2014, sitting legislator Jaffar Hussain, who is now the AIMIM’s Yakutpura candidate won against Mr Khan, who was then contesting on a TDP ticket, by a margin of over 17,000 votes. While the former secured 47.48% of the total votes polled, the latter secured 34.35%. Later, in 2018, Mr Hussain won yet again, with 57,891 votes. Mr Khan, the Congress candidate, came second with 48,191 votes. However, the percentage of votes polled for both candidates changed. The former’s vote percentage fell to 41.99%, and the latter’s saw a slight increase to 34.88%. Data indicates that the party occupying the third position saw an increase in their share of the percentage of votes which rose in 2018 to 12.33% for the TRS candidate, as opposed to 6.53% in 2014 which were secured by Congress’ candidate.
