Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address a poll rally in Alladurg, Sangareddy district of Telangana, on Tuesday, as confirmed by BJP sources. This marks Modi’s second appearance in the state since the announcement of the poll schedule. Telangana holds strategic importance for the BJP in the southern region, as the party aims to secure a significant number of seats to advance its ambitious target of achieving 370 seats in the Lok Sabha. Home Minister Amit Shah previously outlined a goal of winning double-digit seats out of the total 17 in Telangana.
Campaign Strategy
Amit Shah is slated to campaign on May 1, rallying support for the BJP’s Hyderabad candidate, Madhavi Latha, who is contesting against AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi, the incumbent MP from the constituency.
Past Performance and Future Prospects
In the previous 2019 elections, the BJP clinched four seats in Telangana. With the exception of Soyam Bapurao (Adilabad), the party fielded candidates from their respective constituencies.
BJP Telangana chief and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, contesting from Secunderabad, along with National General Secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar (Karimnagar) and Nizamabad MP D Arvind, have already launched intensive campaigns in their respective electoral segments.
Limited Female Presence in Telangana’s Lok Sabha Elections
While the national parties Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with the Bharat Rastra Samithi (BRS), a regional party in Telangana, claim credit for the enactment of the Women’s Reservation Act-2023, requiring one-third of all seats in the Lok Sabha and State legislative assemblies to be allocated to women, a closer examination of their allotment of MP tickets to women candidates in the Lok Sabha polls reveals a lack of sincerity in promoting women’s representation in legislative bodies.
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Current Scenario
These three prominent parties have collectively allotted tickets to only six women out of the total 17 Lok Sabha seats in the State, which is a mere 12% of the overall 51 nominees from these parties.
Candidates and Background
While the Congress party has nominated Patnam Suneetha Reddy from Malkajgiri, Kadiyam Kavya from Warangal, and Atram Suguna from Adilabad, the BJP has fielded D. K. Aruna from Mahabubnagar and Kompella Madhavi Latha from Hyderabad. The BRS has allotted the ticket to Mahabubabad sitting MP Maloth Kavitha once again.
Gender Representation Concerns
The scant presence of women candidates raises concerns about gender representation in Telangana’s political arena, and achieving gender parity remains a challenge in electoral politics where winning a seat by hook or crook is always a priority for any political party.
This trend of minimal female representation in Telangana’s Lok Sabha elections is not new. Since its inception, only one-woman MP was elected in both the 2014 and 2019 elections. Kalvakuntla Kavitha of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) (now BRS) secured victory in 2014 from Nizamabad, while Maloth Kavitha emerged as the sole woman MP in 2019, representing BRS from Mahabubabad.
Challenges and Exceptions
Meanwhile, three of these candidates — Kadiyam Kavya from Warangal Lok Sabha (SC), Atram Suguna from Adilabad (ST), and Madhavi Latha from Hyderabad — are testing the waters for the first time in electoral politics. On the other hand, three-time MLA and Minister in the Congress government in the combined Andhra Pradesh, D. K. Aruna from Gadwal is leaving no stone unturned to win the Mahabubnagar Lok Sabha constituency, while Patnam Suneetha Reddy — the first chairperson of Vikarabad Zilla Parishad — and wife of MLC Patnam Mahender Reddy, is contesting from Malkajgiri.
In addition to the present political landscape, the legacy of former women MPs from the Telangana region reflects a history of leadership and resilience. Figures like Tella Lakshmi Kantamma, Renuka Chowdhury from Khammam, Vijayashanti from Medak, and Kalvakuntla Kavitha from Nizamabad have proven their grit and determination and left indelible marks on politics through their advocacy for women’s rights and dedication to public service. But other elected leaders like Tanguturi Manemma, the wife of former CM of united Andhra Pradesh, T. Anjaiah, who won from Secunderabad, Dr. C. Suguna Kumari from Peddapalli, and Dr. T. Kalpana Devi from Warangal, have failed to make a mark of their own.
