The ruling Congress dominated the gram panchayat elections in Telangana while the BRS showed signs of resurgence, holding on to the second position in the state, pushing the BJP down to third place.
Chief minister A Revanth Reddy claimed that his party had performed exceedingly well in the rural polls and assembly constituency-wise, this result translates to winning 87 out of the 94 constituencies where elections were held. However, comparing the results of the previous rural elections when BRS was in power, the Opposition party claimed it has done better holding on to its support base.
The gram panchayat polls are usually held without symbols of political parties in Telangana. Chief minister A Revanth Reddy claimed that the victory secured by the Congress was a referendum on his two-year-long rule and their policies. “People supported the Congress in the elections held two years after the government was formed. We consider the results of the Panchayat elections as a verdict on our two-year-long rule. If considered in terms of Assembly constituencies, Congress won in 87 out of the 94 constituencies,” he said.
According to Reddy, the BRS won 6 while the BJP won only one.
Of the 12,702 gram panchayats, Congress candidates won 7,527 while Congress rebels won another 808 seats. Together, they won 8,335 villages, which comes to 66 per cent, while the BRS and BJP together secured 33 per cent and another one per cent went to the Communists. The chief minister said Congress will return to power with a two-thirds majority in 2029.
BRS working president KT Rama Rao alleged misuse of power, coercion, and violence by the ruling party and said despite this voters supported the BRS in a large number of gram panchayats.
He said the Congress struggled to secure even half the seats, proclaiming the Panchayat polls as the beginning of the downfall of Congress. The BRS leaders also took to social media to highlight the poor showing by the BJP claiming that at the ground level it was only their party which was taking on the Congress.