Hyderabad:Congress candidate from Jubilee Hills Mohammad Azharuddin, who was among the early voters on Thursday as the polling for the 119 assembly seat began at 7 am, appealed to people to vote without any second thought to keep the democracy thriving in Telangana.
After exercising his franchise, the former cricketer urged the people of the state to cast their vote.
"It is important to vote to keep the democracy vibrant. If you don't vote, then you don't have any right to question..." Azharuddin said. The former India cricket captain is contesting from the Jubilee Hills Assembly seat. The Congress's ticket from the Jubilee Hills Assembly seat for the coming Telangana elections marks a return to active politics for Azharuddin. In 2018, this constituency was won by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now BRS). Jubilee Hills comes under the Hyderabad district of Telangana State and falls under the Secundrabad Lok sabha constituency. In 2018, Maganti Gopinath of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi won the seat by defeating P Vishnuvardhan Reddy of the Indian National Congress with a margin of 16004 votes.
This time, the BRS has re-nominated incumbent MLA Maganti Gopinath and the Congress has fielded Azharuddin while the BJP candidate is its executive committee member Lankala Deepak Kumar. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), a BRS ally, has named its candidate Mohammed Rashed Farazuddin who is a municipal corporator. However, as many as 2,290 candidates from 109 national and regional parties including 221 women and one transgender are in the fray.