1. Luxury in Name, Bastis in Reality
2. J Hills’ segment tells a different Story
3. No Celebrities here, Slum Voters to decide fate of Nov.11 Bypoll

Hyderabad’s much-hyped Jubilee Hills assembly seat is headed for a by-election on November 11 — but the picture behind the glamour is surprisingly different. In reality, this is not the enclave of film stars and elites. It’s a basti-heavy battleground where slum votes may decide the winner.

Contrary to popular belief, the large, palatial houses in posh areas of Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills do not fall under the Jubilee Hills constituency — they are part of the Khairatabad assembly segment. What remains within Jubilee Hills are neighbourhoods like Erragadda, Borabanda, Yousufguda, Vengal Rao Nagar, Rahamat Nagar and Shaikpet — basti clusters packed with daily wage earners, informal workers and small-job holders.

Take Vengal Rao Nagar: about 60,000 voters reside there, mostly in Jawahar Nagar, Yadagiri Nagar and East Rahamat Nagar slums. Borabanda and Rahamat Nagar — parts of Shaikpet and Erragadda — add another 46,000 votes, with tens of thousands huddled in tightly packed bastis such as Banjara Nagar and Vinayaka Rao Nagar. Former BRS in-charge for Jubilee Hills Satish Reddy even estimated that slum-area voters account for nearly half of the 4 lakh electorate in this constituency. In short: this is Jubilee Bastis, not luxury lanes.

Satish Reddy,  Former BRS in-charge for Jubilee Hills, says, “voters from the slums comprise nearly half of the total electorate of 4 lakh in this segment and they are the key to determining the eventual winner in the bye-poll election. Unlike other assembly segments in the Hyderabad city, Jubilee Hills is full of bastis inhabited by labourers, small-time job holders etc.”

“My division has a vote count of 46,000 and the bastis include Banjara Nagar, Vinayaka Rao Nagar and some streets in Madhura Nagar," according to Baba Fasiuddin, former GHMC Deputy Mayor and Borabanda Corporator 

High Stakes, Tight Margins

The seat fell vacant after the death of three-time MLA Maganti Gopinath (BRS). In the 2023 election, Gopinath had won comfortably by 16,300 votes over Congress’s Mohammed Azharuddin. But the bypoll is a different ballgame. The Congress has fielded V. Naveen Yadav (from the BC community), while BRS nominated Maganti Sunitha (Gopinath’s widow). The BJP is expected to announce its candidate in a couple of days, as per its state chief N Ramchander Rao

The margins are razor-thin. Past performance gives no guarantee: while BRS swept the seat in Assembly polls, Congress (and BJP) had stronger showings in the same geography during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls — signalling fluid urban voting patterns. Political analysts now see this contest as a litmus test for urban sentiment in Telangana.

The Campaign Strategy: “Basti Bata”

Recognising the importance of slum votes, Congress has launched a special outreach campaign called “Basti Bata”, in which ministers and party leaders walk the lanes of slum areas to meet voters, hear grievances, and offer promises. The approach signals a pivot: this isn’t about celebrity signatures and big rallies — it’s about ground contact with marginalised voters. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has drawn up a 30-day strategy to saturate every division — especially slum divisions — with ministerial visits, community outreach and targeted promises.

As November 11 draws near, it’s clear that behind the façade of glamour lies a battle of grit, grit and votes — where the “little voices” in the bastis may just speak the loudest.