Hyderabad, 29 July (H.S.): Telangana Minister Ponnam Prabhakar hinted that former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin will likely be the Congress candidate for the Jubilee Hills constituency by-election. He emphasized that the Congress party will not select an outsider, asserting that a leader from the constituency will be chosen. Prabhakar expressed confidence that the party's cadre would work cohesively to secure victory, reinforcing the intent to uphold Congress's presence in Jubilee Hills.

The by-election is a response to the passing of sitting MLA Maganti Gopinath of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, who had previously defeated Azharuddin by over 16,000 votes in 2023. Azharuddin, the Working President of the state Congress, announced his intention to contest the by-election, positioning Jubilee Hills as his home constituency. However, state Congress chief Mahesh Kumar Goud stated that no candidate has been officially finalized, outlining the lengthy candidate selection process involving application submissions, filtering by the state unit, and final decision-making by the Central Election Committee and Congress Working Committee.

Azharuddin has previously held political office, being elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009 and contesting other elections for Congress in 2014 and 2018 without success. His 2023 candidacy from Jubilee Hills ended in defeat against Gopinath. Additionally, Azharuddin was appointed to the Political Affairs Committee of the state Congress, while his son Mohammed Asaduddin became General Secretary.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar