AIMIM's dominance in Nampally faces fierce challenge from Congress's Feroz Khan

Assembly constituency: Nampally

District: Hyderabad

MLA: Jaffar Hussain (Muslim)

Reservation: GEN

Total Voters: 3,12,477

Booths: 277

Urban Voters: 100 %

Rural Voters: 0%

Male: 53 %

Female: 46 %

Caste & Religious Demography

Gen + BC: 93 %

SC: 6 %

ST: 1 %

Hindu: 46 %

Muslim: 50 %

Others : 4 %

Candidates

Anand Kumar Goud (BRS)

Anand Kumar Goud (61), a businessman, holds a B.Sc. from Osmania University. He ran unsuccessfully on behalf of the TRS (now BRS) in the Nampally constituency in 2018.

Anand Kumar Goud, the 2018 TRS MLA candidate, won the corporator position in the 2020 Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections for the Jambagh division.

He is contesting for the BRS in the Telangana elections in 2023. Anand Kumar Goud would be competing against Congress candidate Feroz Khan and AIMIM candidate Majid Hussain.

Majid Hussain (AIMIM)

Majid Hussain, who was born on April 9, 1980, is the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) corporator for the Mehdipatnam ward. He was the former Mayor of Hyderabad and is a member of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM).

Majid Hussain attended St. Theresa School and graduated from Anwar-Ul-Uoom College in Hyderabad. Hussain began his career as an executive with HSBC before entering active politics. His father, MH Maqsood, is a retired physical director who served on the AP handball selection committee, and his mother, Qaisar Jahan, is the headmistress of the Government Girls High School, First Lancer.

Majid Hussain was chosen by AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi to represent the Ahmednagar division in the 2009 GHMC Municipal elections. In 2012, Majid Hussain became Hyderabad's youngest mayor. He is contesting for Telangana State Assembly in the Nampally constituency on behalf of the AIMIM.

Feroz Khan (Congress)

Feroz Khan, a philanthropist, entered politics in 2009, joining the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP). He later joined the Congress as part of the PRP-Congress merger in 2011.

Feroz Khan, a fierce AIMIM critic, contested on behalf of the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) ticket before joining the TDP. He contested from Nampally constituency in 2009 (PRP), 2014 (TDP), and 2018 (Congress), but lost all three times.

Feroz Khan contested for the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Hyderabad, but lost to AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi. In December 2022, he was appointed as the TPCC's general secretary.

Rahul Chandra (BJP)

The BJP has fielded a fresh face in the Nampally constituency for the Telangana elections in 2023. Rahul Chandra, a BJP leader, is running for office in Telangana's Nampally constituency. He claims that the BJP will take over the Nampally constituency and put an end to AIMIM's rule and dominance.

Constituency details

Geography

Nampally was carved out of the Asif Nagar Assembly constituency prior to the 2009 elections, following the Delimitation Act of 2002.

Nampally is divided into six GHMC divisions: Mehdipatnam, Asif Nagar, Vijaynagar Colony, Ahmednagar, Red Hills, and Mallepalli.

Background

The AIMIM has consistently won four out of the last six major elections, while the Congress has won once and the TRS (now BRS) once.

The AIMIM has a strong presence in the Assembly constituency, having won four times since 2004. The AIMIM is the only factor in this constituency, as any contestant from the AIMIM wins from the Nampally constituency.

MLA Profile

Personal Background

Jaffar Hussain Meraj was born in Hyderabad in 1967 to former AIMIM MLA Ahmed Hussain, a legislator from Sitaram Bagh. He is married to Farzana Bano and the couple have two children. His sons Minhaj Hussain and Maqsood Hussain, have earned MBAs and are currently handling their family business. 

Political history

Jaffer Hussain was elected to the GHMC for the first time in the 2009 municipal elections from Tolichowki. He was elected as Deputy Mayor of GHMC. In the General State Elections 2014, he was elected as Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) of Nampally Constituency defeating Feroz Khan from Telugu Desam Party by 17,296 votes.

In the 2018 elections, Jaffer Hussain retained his seat defeating his rival Feroz Khan of the Congress party. Jaffer Hussain got 57,940 votes while Feroz Khan managed to get 48,265 votes in his favour.

Jaffer Hussain is contesting on behalf of the AIMIM from the Yakutpura constituency in Telangana Legislative Assembly election 2023.

2014 Assembly constituency analysis

Since 2009, Feroz Khan has been a key player in the Nampally constituency's political landscape. He contested for the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) of megastar Konidela Chiranjeevi. He was defeated by AIMIM's Virasat Rasool Khan by a narrow margin of 6,799.

Feroz Khan was offered to join the TRS (now BRS) by TRS president K Chandrashekar Rao, but he declined the offer due to Asaduddin Owasi's influence, as they had been rivals since childhood.

He later contested on behalf of the TDP. TDP president Nara Chandrababu Naidu was impressed with him and asked Feroz Khan to compete against AIMIM Jaffar Hussain Meraj, the former deputy mayor of Hyderabad, but Feroz Khan was defeated by a huge margin.

The TDP-BJP alliance and the negative impact of the Narendra Modi factor in Muslim-dominated areas were blamed for Feroz Khan's defeat in Nampally.

The AIMIM aggressively campaigned against Feroz Khan, claiming that the BJP is Feroz and Feroz is the BJP, destroying his image in the Muslim-majority constituency.

The Muslim vote bank shifted their loyalties to the AIMIM due to fear of uncertainty and rising Hindutva. The AIMIM polarized the Muslim vote bank.

Feroz Khan, popular for his social service since 2007, lost the 2014 election due to the AIMIM's violence dominance and polarization of Muslim vote bank.

2018 Assembly elections Analysis

In 2018, Asaduddin Owaisi declared the AIMIM-TRS's alliance to prevent the Congress or the BJP from gaining power in Telangana. It was a strategic plan to field candidates and make them withdraw before the deadline.

The candidates were chosen in areas with a considerable Muslim population in order to assess the strategy, strengths, and weaknesses of the Congress-led alliance.

Despite switching allegiances from the Congress to the PRP to the TDP and back to the Congress, Feroz Khan is a popular candidate in the Nampally slums. He was the only candidate capable of defeating the AIMIM candidate, Jaffer Hussain.

Feroz Khan, the Congress candidate, is more popular than Jaffar Hussain, the incumbent MLA. He has been fighting cases against the AIMIM, claiming that 40,000 bogus votes (dead, multiple identifies votes, men dressed in Burkha, etc.) were cast in the Nampally Assembly constituency and that the election was rigged by AIMIM.

Feroz Khan also provided evidence to the Telangana Chief Electoral Office (CEO) and the Telangana High Court demonstrating why no other party won the Nampally constituency as a result of these bogus votes.

There was a lot of violence reported during the elections in Nampally constituency, putting non-AIMIM candidates in danger.

Feroz Khan was also attacked by Jaffar Hussian's brother, who fired five bullets at him. 

Regular attacks and dominance in the Assembly constituency were used to maintain fear and the AIMIM's dominance in the constituency.

The BJP and the BRS candidates were known as dummy candidates, and their presence caused the Hindu vote to split between the Congress, the BRS and the BJP, defeating Congress candidate Feroz Khan.