HYDERABAD: Nagarjuna Sagar, predominantly a rural assembly constituency located 140 km away from Hyderabad, is a trendsetter in recording high polling percentages.
For instance, the segment recorded an all-time high of 88 per cent voter turnout on Saturday.
Not long ago, the constituency had 86.62 per cent of voters turning out in December 2018 assembly polls. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had chosen to go for early polls and had dissolved the Telangana state assembly in September, eight months before the completion of the first term of his government.
KCR’s gamble had paid off as the TRS not only won the Nagarjuna Sagar seat but also won 88 seats out of 119 at stake. In the 2014 election, the polling percentage in Nagarjuna Sagar was 80.03 which saw K Jana Reddy of Congress winning it for a seventh term.
Nagarjuna Sagar constituency was created in 2009 after the delimitation process was completed as per the changes initiated by the 87th constitutional amendment in 2002.
Earlier, it was known as Chalakurthi constituency. In the first election held in Nagarjuna Sagar constituency in 2015, it registered 76.74 per cent polling in 2014.
Interestingly, it was a straight fight between Congress and the TRS in both the elections in 2014 and 2018 with BJP candidate K Niveditha Reddy losing deposit in 2018 and TDP candidate K Anjaiah Yadav finishing a distant third in 2014 polls, the first after the state was formed following bifurcation.
While TRS, Congress and BJP exuded confidence of winning the seat, political analysts did not rule out the possibility of a close contest this time too. In 2018, Nomula Narsimhaiah of the TRS had won with a majority of over 7,700 votes. However, following its good show in the Dubbak bypoll and the GHMC elections, the BJP is keen to make a mark in this byelection as well.