Malka Komaraiah won from the Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Teachers’ constituency.
| Photo Credit: By Arrangement
Malka Komaraiah, a leading promoter of a chain of educational institutions in Telangana’s capital [Hyderabad] has turned out to be a giant killer in the MLC elections in Telangana, when he humbled seasoned teacher-turned-politicians and exposed the chinks in the armour of the teachers unions backed by the Congress as well as the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS). He won from Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Teachers’ constituency.
Elections to the two vacant MLC vacancies from the Teachers constituency and one from the Graduates constituency was notified by the Election Commission on January 29, 2025.
The Unions
Reputed Progressive Recognised Teachers Union (PRTU), United Teachers Front (UTF) and State Teachers Union (STU), a few of them backed by the Left parties, held a sway over the teachers community in the Legislative Council elections. Though the BJP has an affiliated union going by the name of Telangana Teacher’s Association, its influence has been limited.
5,700 margin
Mr. Komaraiah won the seat with a margin of more than 5,700 first preference votes against his nearest rival Vanga Mahender Reddy of the PRTU (TS). Mr. Komaraiah secured 12,959 votes while Mr. Mahender Reddy got 7,182 votes at the end of the first preference vote count in Karimnagar on Monday (March 3, 2025) night. Of the total 25,041 polled votes, around 897 votes were declared invalid.
But, the surprise victory of Mr. Komaraiah, who entered the Karimnagar-Adilabad-Nizamabad-Medak Teachers constituency fray as BJP backed nominee, has ruffled the feathers of the established unions making them sit back and analyse the loss. Although, the teachers constituency elections are held on non-party basis, the mainstream political parties tend to back the strong candidate and this case too, the Congress and the BRS too chose to support one candidate unofficially.
The PRTU had fielded Vanga Mahender Reddy as its candidate and is younger brother of a powerful teachers’ union leader, which is aligned with the BRS. Congress, however, refrained from backing any candidate. However, the teachers sympathetic towards the ruling party indicated that they had been asked to back Mahender Reddy.
Komaraiah aspired for tickets in Assembly and Lok Sabha polls
Mr. Komaraiah had dreamt of entering politics and aspired for a ticket in the previous Assembly and Parliamentary elections. He joined the BJP and tried to convince the leadership to give him a chance. But, his surprise nomination as the Teacher’s constituency candidate caught the attention of the other parties. Though he is not a teacher by profession but only runs a chain of educational institutions, his victory has left the rivals to do a thorough introspection on what went wrong in their campagning.
Union Minister’s meticulous planning
BJP sources maintain that Mr. Komaraiah’s victory is largely attributed to the aggressive campaign by the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay, who stayed put in Karimnagar overseeing the campaign. The Union Minister carefully appointed one in charge for every 25 teachers voters and organised extensive mass contact programmes through meetings at the district and Lok Sabha constituency level.
Issues highlighted by BJP
The failure of the successive governments of BRS and the Congress in taking up the welfare of the teachers and IT exemption up to ₹12 lakh were the two issues that were repeatedly highlighted by the BJP leadership.
BJP lost Nalgonda-Khammam-Warangal Teachers constituency
However, the BJP could not put up the same success formula in Nalgonda-Khammam-Warangal Teachers constituency where its candidate Sarotham Reddy lost to PRTU’s Pingali Sripal Reddy. Here the Congress and the BRS appears to have carefully backed the PRTU candidate while the BJP’s leadership did not show the same enthusiasm like Mr. Bandi Sanjay. Murmurs are being heard that if the BJP leadership had focussed more on the second teachers constituency, the result would have come in favour of the party.
Published – March 04, 2025 12:48 pm IST