A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate contesting the Maktal Municipality elections died by suicide early on Monday, on the final day of campaigning for elections to urban local bodies across Telangana.
Reacting to the incident, Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao alleged that Mahadevappa was driven to suicide due to harassment by Congress leaders, including a local minister.
Mahadevappa, 46, a BJP candidate from Ward 6 of Maktal Municipality in Narayanpet district, died around 5:30 am, police said.
“Today early in the morning, BJP tribal candidate from ward 6 of Maktal municipality committed suicide because of the harassment by the local minister Vakiti Srihari. He was being harassed by the Congress party leaders for the last many days. He was forced to join the Congress,” Rao alleged.
“He somehow came out of their clutches and got a BJP ticket, and he was contesting. He was a BJP worker from the very beginning. Because of the harassment and threats by the local minister and his goons, he committed suicide this morning,” he added.
#WATCH | Hyderabad, Telangana: Telangana BJP President N Ramchander Rao says, “… Today early in the morning, BJP tribal candidate from ward 6 of Maktal municipality committed suicide because of the harassment by the local minister Vakiti Srihari. He was being harassed by the… https://t.co/uYBgSlYaTT pic.twitter.com/VIiWWqPjN6
— ANI (@ANI) February 10, 2026
Campaigning Concludes For Civic Polls
The incident came as campaigning concluded on Monday for elections to seven municipal corporations and 116 municipalities in Telangana, which are being seen as another test of popularity for the ruling Congress and opposition BJP and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
The elections, being held on a party basis, have witnessed a triangular contest among the three major political formations.
Heavyweights Lead Campaigns
All major parties deployed senior leaders for canvassing. Congress campaigners included Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, while the BJP fielded Union Ministers G. Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
BRS Working President K. T. Rama Rao and senior leader T. Harish Rao also led the party’s campaign. BJP president Nitin Nabin and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took part in the saffron party’s outreach.
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi addressed several rallies and undertook foot marches in towns with sizeable Muslim populations.
The BJP released its manifesto for the municipal elections, promising not to raise taxes in municipalities and corporations, strengthen neighbourhood health clinics, and address issues such as mosquitoes, monkeys, pigs and stray dogs.
The party also pledged to safeguard temples, remove encroachments on temple lands, establish ‘goshalas’ in every municipality, deploy artificial intelligence to check corruption, and conduct audits of development projects.
Following its success in the Gram Panchayat elections held in December last year, the Congress is seeking to consolidate its position as the dominant political force in the state. The BJP hopes to emerge as a viable alternative to both the Congress and the BRS.
