Telangana election results: Congress workers celebrate as latest trends show lead on 51 seats, BRS 29, BJP in 6
Hyderabad: As per official Election Commission of India data as counting of votes progressed in Telangana, Congress was leading on 51 while BRS was leading on 29 the BJP led in 6 seats and the CPI had 1 seat as per Election Commission trends.
The majority mark to win the elections is 60 in 119 seats.
Congress supporters were seen bursting firecrackers and raising slogans outside the residence of state party chief Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was trailing from Kamareddy behind state Congress president A Revanth Reddy by over 2,000 votes after the first round of counting.
Since the formation of the State in the year 2014, BRS has been holding power with KCR as its chief minister.
As per ECI data State Congress chief Revanth Reddy was seen to be leading from Kodangal seat.
Other main candidates Gaddam Vinod was leading from Bellampalli while Murali Naik Bhukya is leading from Mahabubabad, according to the first round of counting.
Speaking on the trends, BJP MP K Laxman said, "In Telangana, people were wanting a change. Corruption by BRS, dynasty politics, and appeasement politics were the three main issues that affected people. In the initial count, Congress is leading in many places. But I believe that the BJP will play an important role."
BRS MP K. Keshava Rao congratulated the Congress for gaining an early lead in Telangana but said that the party is fighting a lone battle and that BJP and the AIMIM parties are sure to support BRS if needed.
"I will not get into the figures now because I would not undermine the surveys. You have your own studies, I have mine...As far as the surveys are concerned, you have given Congress a lead. But as per my studies, we have a comfortable majority to get into power...Congress is fighting a lone battle, they have no supporters. They have to get the seats all by themselves...But BJP and AIMIM are sure to support us in case of need," the BRS MP said.
On the Congress' lead he said, "We have to congratulate them. This is not a joke...They have done a great job. We are coming down; they have gone up. This has to be accepted because the figures will say. There is no question of hiding those things."
The Telangana election results will be important for the Congress as it heads into the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. A win in Karnataka and Telangana would further concrete its presence in the South.
The fate of 2,290 candidates from 109 parties including the national and regional parties will be revealed as the counting proceeds. The contestants include 221 women and one transgender. A total of 103 legislators are re-contesting this time, most of them from the ruling BRS.
A clear picture of the result is likely to emerge by noon.
A total of 3.17 crore voters were eligible to exercise their franchise to elect legislators for a 119-member Assembly.
Telangana went to vote on November 30. In 2018, BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) won 88 of the 119 seats and had a 47.4 per cent vote share. The Congress came a distant second with 19 seats.
