District: Vikarabad

MLA: Pilot Rohith (Reddy)

Reservation: SC

Total Voters: 2,22,128

Booths: 269

Urban Voters: 28%

Rural Voters: 72%

Male: 49.1 %

Female: 50 %

Caste & Religious Demography

Gen + BC: 75 %

SC: 15%

ST: 10%

Hindu: 82 %

Muslim: 15%

Others : 3 %

Candidates Profile

Pilot Rohith Reddy (BRS)

Rohith Reddy is a native of Basheerabad mandal. He started his political journey in 2009 with the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) and was appointed the incharge of Tandur constituency of the party. He contested the 2009 election on a PRP ticket but lost. Rohith then joined the TRS (now BRS) and actively participated in the Telangana movement. But when Mahender Reddy from the TDP was offered a BRS ticket from Tandur in 2014, Rohith again shifted to the Congress. He finally won from the constituency in the 2018 elections but later shifted to join the BRS in 2019. Rohith pulled off a sting operation in 2022, at his farmhouse, in which three alleged BJP agents were arrested for reportedly trying to bribe him and three other BRS MLAs with Rs 100 crore to destabilise the KCR Government.

Buyyani Manohar Reddy (Congress)

He was the joint Ranga Reddy District Co-operative Central Bank Ltd. (DCCB) chairman and was with the BRS till October 2023. He quit the party and joined the Congress after Rohith was allotted the ticket. He started his career as a rice mill businessman and then diversified into real estate and construction. He runs the BMR and JB Infra Group.

Shankar Goud (Jana Sena Party):

The BJP allotted the Tandur seat to JSP as part of the alliance. The JSP’s Telangana incharge has been given the ticket. Nemuri Shankar Goud had earlier contested for the Secunderabad MP seat in 2019. Shankar Goud has been a follower of JSP president Pawan Kayan for a long time. He played an active role since the JSP was formed in the Tirupati-Kakinada belt. Shankar Goud initially joined politics in the PRP. He continued to work for Pawan Kalyan after the party was merged with the Congress.

Constituency information

Geography

Tandur Municipality, Peddemul, Basheerabad and Yalal mandals form the Tandur Assembly constituency. It borders Karnataka. The cement industry, stone mines, quarries, pigeon pea cultivation, and transportation are the major sources of employment in the constituency.

Background

The Assembly seat was created in 1962. It was a Congress bastion till 1994 until P Mahender Reddy from the TDP took over and won the seat four times. The Reddy community has always been the dominant force here. Tandur municipality and Basheerabad have been a Congress stronghold, while Peddemul and Yalal mandals have recently become the TRS’s bastion.

2014 Election Analysis

• Rohith Reddy, who was with the TRS, expected a ticket, but P Mahender Reddy who jumped from the TDP was offered a ticket.
• BCs and other settlers overwhelmingly voted in favour of Mahender Reddy.
• The Congress only managed to secure votes of SCs and STs.
• Reddy and Muslim votes were split between the Congress and the TRS.

2018 Election Analysis

• Rohith Reddy, after denial of ticket from the TRS, joined the Congress in 2015
• He campaigned extensively against Mahender Reddy
• The huge anti-incumbency against the sitting MLA helped Rohit Reddy from the Congress secure a win
• Kompalli Yadav and then MP Konda Vishveshwar Reddy joining the Congress from the TRS also helped Rohit Reddy.
• The AIMIM had a tacit understanding with the Congress at the local level.
• The BJP also secured 10,000 votes mostly because of the Goud community’s presence.

Current Situation

There was infighting between Rohith Reddy and Mahender Reddy on who would get a ticket. The BRS gave a ticket to Rohith and a Cabinet berth to Mahender Reddy to balance the scales.

Key Local Issues

• Pollution -Stone industry and cement industry
• Healthcare and Education facilities
• Red Gram market
• Kotipalli Reservoir