Hyderabad: Proving pre-poll surveys and sceptics wrong, Congress party scored a landslide victory in the Jubilee Hills by-election on Friday. Congress candidate Vallala Naveen Yadav secured 98,988 votes out of total 1,94,631 polled votes, which is over 50 per cent. The Congress candidate maintained the lead throughout the counting and finished with a majority of 24,729 votes over his nearest rival and Bharat Rashtra Samithi candidate Maganti Sunitha Gopinath.

Maganti Sunitha came second with 74,259 (38.1 per cent) votes, while Bharatiya Janata Party nominee Deepak Reddy Lankala lost his deposits in the bye-election. He stood third with 17,061 (8.8 per cent) votes. As many as 922 people opted for NOTA in the elections, giving it fourth place.

On Friday, Returning Officer P Sairam announced the elections and formally handed over the certificate to the winner in the presence of the general observer Ranjit Kumar Singh. After contesting three elections in Jubilee Hills, Naveen Yadav became an MLA for the first time.

This is the second victory, an emphatic one, for Congress in Assembly bypolls after winning Secunderabad Cantonment last year. As counting progressed at 8 am at Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Indoor Stadium in Yousufguda, Congress party continued to dominate the by-election, expanding the lead with every round of counting.

After the completion of the first three rounds, the Congress stood at 28,956 votes, while the BRS secured 22,962 votes and the BJP secured 5,341 votes, giving the Congress candidate an overall lead of nearly 6,000 votes.

By the end of the fifth round, Naveen's margin doubled and rose to 12,800 votes as he secured 50,806 votes. Sunitha remained in second place with 37,965 votes, while Deepak Reddy trailed with 8,549 votes. In the sixth round, Naveen secured 60,359 votes and strengthened his position with a margin of 15,700 votes. BRS’s Sunitha followed with 44,580 votes, while BJP’s Deepak Reddy was polled 10,215 votes.

Naveen continued to consolidate his position as counting progressed, widening his lead to 21,600 votes by the end of eighth round, having secured 79,591 votes. While Sunitha remained in second place with 57,937 votes, Deepak trailed with 14,223 votes.

In the final round, the Congress candidate increased his vote count to 98,988, widening the gap with his nearest rival to 24,729 votes.

As for the counting of postal ballots, of the 101 postal ballots cast, 96 were declared valid, while five were rejected. Naveen secured 43 votes, followed by Sunitha with 25 votes and Deepak with 20 votes.

According to Chief Electoral Officer C Sudharshan Reddy, 48.49 per cent of the electorate cast their votes in the bye-election held on November 11. A total of 1,94,631 votes were polled. As many as 99,771 men, 94,855 women and 5 others cast their votes. The constituency has a total electorate of 4,01,365 with 2,08,561 males, 1,92,779 females and 25 others.