Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Hyderabad candidate, Kompella Madhavi Latha, has lost by 3,38,087 votes to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi.
The seat has been an Owaisi stronghold for four decades — Asaduddin Owaisi has been MP for 20 years, before which his father, the late Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, held it six times for another 20 years.
In the 2019 general election, Owaisi retained the seat after defeating BJP’s Bhagvanth Rao with a majority of over 2.8 lakh votes.
The Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat, comprising seven assembly constituencies — Charminar, Yakutpura, Malakpet, Bahadurpura, Karwan, Goshamahal, and Chandrayangutta — has a large proportion of Muslim voters.
The BJP, which has been trying to capture the seat for a long time, had fielded a woman in the “old-city” segment against Owaisi for the first time.
A political debutant and a Hindutva face, 49-year-old Latha was a wild card entry into the general election fray. She holds a master’s degree in political science from Osmania University, is a Bharatanatyam danseuse, and is the chairperson of the Hyderabad-based Virinchi Hospitals.
Latha vigorously campaigned in the old quarters of Hyderabad, trying to shore up support from the Muslim community, while talking about “the plight of the women and Pasmanda groups.”
Exuding confidence in dislodging Owaisi, she, during her campaigning, stated that the AIMIM leader has kept the constituency undeveloped, “does not want Muslims to grow ahead in life” and that he wants “to keep exploiting them for his own political benefits.”
She even attributed the AIMIM’s uninterrupted winning streak in the elections to electoral malpractices and bogus voters, among other factors.
However, her electioneering was also marred by some controversies, including the surfacing of a viral video where she was seen pretending to draw an arrow and fire it at a mosque during a Ram Navami rally in Hyderabad on 17 April. Following the incident, Latha clarified that it was a doctored video and apologised for hurting any sentiments.
Meanwhile, Owaisi termed her gestures as “objectionable, provocative, and vulgar,” and appealed to the voters to choose peace and prosperity for Hyderabad.
In yet another controversy, Latha, in video footage from a polling booth on election day, was seen asking women voters in burqas to remove their veils to verify their identities with the voter cards.
Following a furore, the Hyderabad collector and district electoral officer said that a case was registered against Latha in Malakpet Police Station under various IPC sections, including 171C (for attempts to interfere with the free exercise of electoral right) and also the Representation of the People Act.
However, Latha defended her action saying she, as a woman, only requested the burqa-clad women to reveal their identities. “If this is being made an issue, it means someone is scared.”
Despite all the attention that her candidature had garnered, Latha has lost to Owaisi with a bigger margin than the BJP’s Hyderabad candidate last time.
Hyderabad, with over 19 lakh registered voters, recorded a voting percentage of 46 on 13 May, according to the Election Commission of India.
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