Hyderabad: Former Indian cricket team captain Mohammed Azharuddin who contested the polls on his home pitch in Telangana for the first time, did not have a pleasant opening as his BRS rival stumped him out comfortably.
Azharuddin, who contested the election from the Jubilee Hills constituency in Hyderabad, lost to Maganti Gopinath, the sitting MLA, by 16,337 votes. Gopinath secured 80,549 votes, while Azharuddin, known for his stylish batting and sharp fielding during the heydays of his cricketing career, got 64,212 votes. BJP's Lankala Deepak Reddy obtained 25,866 votes.
Azharuddin, who hails from Hyderabad, began his political innings with a bang by winning from the Moradabad Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh in 2009 on behalf of Congress. However, he lost from Rajasthan's Tonk-Sawai Madhopur in 2014. He is the Working President of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC).
Azharuddin, who faced the tough task of taking on the BRS' sitting MLA Gopinath, was engaged in a triangular contest with the AIMIM fielding M.D Rashed Farazuddin who secured 7,848 votes.The Jubilee Hills seat is home to more than one lakh Muslim voters.
Azharuddin had earlier alleged that AIMIM indulged in the splitting of votes, which the party has been doing in the past too.
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