Over the years several senior leaders have contested two constituencies in Lok Sabha as well as Assembly elections, however, regional leaders have taken this to another level. Telugu Desam Party founder N T Rama Rao contested three seats -Gudivada, Hindupur, and Nalgonda in the 1985 Assembly polls, won all, retained Hindupur, and vacated the other two, forcing by-elections there, until 1996, when an amendment to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, restricted to two the number of seats one candidate could contest in one election.
The reasons can be different for each candidate to contest from two constituencies, ranging from the fear of losing and securing at least one seat in case of defeat from one constituency, or like Narendra Modi’s objective to show his mass appeal across the states, which was demonstrated effectively when he won both the Vadodara and Varanasi seat in the Lok Sabha elections, giving up the former seat.
What could be the probable reason for Revanth Reddy contesting from two seats?
KCR is seeking re-election from Gajwel in his home district Siddipet and is also contesting from the Kamareddy seat. Revanth Reddy is also contesting from his home constituency Kodangal in the Mahabubnagar district. Earlier, Revanth Reddy filed his nomination from Kodangal, where he suffered defeat in 2018. He was later elected to Lok Sabha from Malkajgiri in 2019.
The move does raise questions as what could have transpired for Congress to give the ticket to Revanth Reddy from Kamareddy, where Mohammed Ali Shabbir a two-time MLA from Kamareddy, had been contesting from for the last eight elections, Shabbir has now been shifted to Nizamabad Urban.
Revanth Reddy’s name figured in the third list of candidates released by the Congress party on Monday night. This move of Congress is seen to make way for Revanth Reddy to challenge KCR, projecting him as the Chief Minister’s face for the Telangana state.
KCR in Telangana is a formidable force where the Reddys are trying to grab the power line from the Velamas’s clutch desperately, Though Revanth Reddy has the material clout to challenge KCR but still the support for Revanth Reddy has not been unanimous even from the Reddy faction in the Congress itself because of his closeness to Chandrababu Naidu. Revanth Reddy was earlier in the TDP before switching loyalties to Congress.
Though Revanth Reddy’s rise to prominence in Congress is largely attributed to his fierce verbal attacks against KCR and KTR, still he lacks a popular appeal due to his tainted image in vote for cash scam, the contestation from two seats depicts the underconfidence of Revanth Reddy who has previously lost from his home constituency Kodangal.
Apart from this, the interesting feature that has emerged this time in the present assembly elections in Telangana is that all three top leaders of the main contending parties are contesting from two seats each. Where KCR is contesting from both Gajwel and Kamareddy districts, Eatala Rajender, the spearhead of the BJP campaign, is contesting from Huzurabad and Gajwel, while the TPCC chief Revanth Reddy is contesting from two seats, Kamareddy and his own constituency of Kodangal.
The last time a politician contested from two seats in telugu states, was Pawan Kalyan in 2019 when he made a bid for seats in both Gajuwaka and Bhimavaram, but unfortunately, he faced defeat in both constituencies. In 2009, his brother Chiranjeevi also ran for two seats, securing a victory in Tirupati while losing in Palakole. Going further back we have seen how NTR contested in three different constituencies.
