Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka of Congress faces tough challenge from BRS

Assembly Constituency-Madhira (SC)

District: Khammam

MLA: Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka (Congress)

Reservation: SC

Total Voters: 2,14,636

Booths: 268

Urban Voters: 8%

Rural Voters: 92%

Male: 49.30%

Female: 50.70%

Caste & Religious Demography

• Gen + BC: 69.50%
• SC: 27.30%
• ST: 3.20%
• Hindu: 94.00%
• Muslim: 05%
• Others : 1.00%

Candidates

Lingala Kamal Raju (BRS)

Kamal Raju was born on June 15, 1971 to Gnanaih and Karunamma in Kostala village of Wyra mandal in Khammam district. He pursued his graduation from SR & BGNR Government College, Khammam from 1989 to 1992. In 1994, he secured a post-graduation degree from Osmania University.

He worked as a district member of the SFI Khammam, a CPM-affiliated student union, from 1987-1992. He began his political journey with the CPM. He joined the CPM in 1995 and was elected as an MPP member from Wyra from 1995 to 2000. He served as the district president of Democratic Youth Federation (DYFI), Khammam from 1997 to 2000. In 2004, he served as the district secretary of the DYFI.

Kamala Raju began his political career with the CPM. In 2009 and 2014 Assembly elections, he contested as an MLA on behalf of the CPM in Madhira Assembly constituency. He was defeated by Congress candidate Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. In 2015, he shifted his loyalties to the YSRCP from the CPM and worked as the party general secretary of Khammam district. He contested the 2015 Telangana Legislative Council elections from Khammam local body seat on behalf of the YSRCP and was defeated.

In 2016, he then shifted his loyalties to the TRS (now BRS). In the 2018 Assembly elections, he contested as an MLA for a third time and this time on behalf of the TRS from Madhira Assembly constituency and lost. He won the 2019 Zilla Parishad elections as Madhira ZPTC member and was elected as the chairperson of Khammam Zilla Parishad. In the 2023 Assembly elections, he is contesting from Madhira Assembly constituency and is going to take on Congress candidate Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka for a fourth consecutive time.

Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka (Congress)

Bhatti Vikramarka was born on June 15, 1961 to Manikyam and Akanda in Snanala Laxmipuram in Wyra mandal of Khammam district. He pursued his graduation from Nizam College, Hyderabad and post-graduation from University of Hyderabad. He is married to Nandini and has two sons. He was a director of Andhra Bank. He began his political career with the Congress.

From 1990-1992, he worked as the PCC executive member. Between 2000 and 2003, he served as the PCC secretary. In 2007, he was elected as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) from Khammam district. Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka was elected as an MLA for the first time in 2009 Assembly elections. In 2009, he became the government whip. He was elected as deputy speaker of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on June 4, 2011.

In the 2014 Assembly elections, he was elected as an MLA from Madhira Assembly constituency for the second time. He defeated CPM candidate Lingala Kamal Raju and TDP candidate Mothukupalli Narsimhulu. In the 2019 Assembly elections, he won as an MLA from Madhira Assembly constituency and became the second person to score a hat trick as an MLA from Madhira constituency after CPM leader Bodepudi Venkateswar Rao. On 18 January 2019, he was appointed as the leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Telangana Assembly.

In the 2023 Assembly elections, he is contesting as an MLA for the fourth consecutive term from Madhira constituency. He is also in the race to become the Chief Minister of Telangana, if the Congress is voted to power in the coming elections.

P Vijayaraju (BJP)

Vijayaraju began his political career with the BJP. He served as Dalit Morcha State vice-president and SC Kisan Morcha secretary. He is a novice. In the 2023 Assembly elections, he is contesting as an MLA for the first time on behalf of the BJP. He is going to take on Congress candidate Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and BRS candidate Lingala Kamal Raju.

Assembly constituency information

Geography

• It is a rural constituency and part of Khammam Parliament constituency. Enkuru, Konijerla, Singareni, Julurpadu and Wyra Mandals are part of this Assembly constituency. Wyra is the only municipality in this Assembly constituency.

Background

• This constituency was formed in 1952. The CPM was very strong in Madhira.
• In the last nine elections, the CPM was able to win five times, while the Congress won four times, and the TDP candidate won once in 1999.
• The CPM had an alliance with the TDP from 1985 to 1998. They won all four elections in this period. But in the 1999 Assembly elections, the party parted ways with the TDP and joined with the Congress. However, it lost the elections.
• In the 2009 Assembly elections, Congress candidate Bhatti Vikaramarka contested independently without any alliance and won. He was able to win successive elections in the 2014 and 2018 .
• The SC and the BC population plays a very important role in the election outcomes.
• Both the CPM and the TDP lost hold in this constituency, but the TRS was able to gain from that.

2014 Assembly elections Analysis:

• Bhatti Vikramarka contested on behalf of the Congress in alliance with the CPI and won the constituency by seven per cent margin.
• The CPM contested in alliance with the YSRCP and it secured a majority of ST votes and SC votes were split between the Congress and the CPM.
• The TDP was able to secure Kamma votes and BC votes.
• The TRS did not perform well in this election.

2018 Assembly elections Analysis:

• In the 2018 Assembly elections, the constituency saw an interesting alliance between the TDP and the Congress.
• The Congress and the TDP had voter bases among the BC and Kamma communities. While the Congress was quite popular among the Dalit community, the TRS was able to split the BC community votes with its welfare schemes.
• Thummala Nageswara Rao was able to poach many TDP leaders into the TRS there by giving a good fight in the election. This election also saw transfer of traditional Communist votes to the TRS mainly because of CPM leader Kamal Raju Lingala who joined the TRS before the Assembly elections.
• The popularity of Batti Vikramarka also helped in the Congress's victory in the 2018 Assembly elections.
• Internal squabbles in the TRS between Lingala Kamal Raju and other two aspirants Bommera Rammurthy, Vakkalagadda Chandra Sekhar groups had a negative impact on election results.

Current Situation

• The BRS has once again given the ticket to Lingala Kamal Raju, even though he lost the 2018 Assembly elections.
• Congress candidate Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka is aiming for a fourth consecutive victory from Madhira Assembly constituency.