Did Congress Secure a Majority in Telangana's Urban Local Bodies?
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
Hyderabad, Feb 13 (NationPress) The ruling Congress party in Telangana has achieved a remarkable milestone by winning close to 60 percent of urban local bodies, as confirmed by results announced on Friday night.
The Congress has successfully dominated 64 out of 116 municipalities and claimed victory in three out of seven corporations.
On the other hand, the main opposition party, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), secured 13 municipalities, while the Forward Block managed to win one urban local body.
The situation in 38 municipalities remained undecided, leading to intense political maneuvering by both Congress and BRS to attract independents and others for the roles of chairpersons and vice-chairpersons.
Congress proclaimed a victory in 75 percent of the municipalities.
Despite this, a strong showing from BRS prevented a complete sweep by the ruling party.
In the previous municipal elections of 2020, the then-ruling party TRS (now BRS) had gained control over more than 100 urban local bodies.
The ruling party also achieved success in Mancherial, Ramagundam, and Nalgonda corporations, with a lead in Mahabubnagar.
In the 60-member Kothagudem corporation, both Congress and Communist Party of India (CPI) claimed 22 seats each, with Congress leaders highlighting a friendly competition.
The BJP, although not securing any municipality independently, emerged as the largest party in the Karimnagar corporation, winning 30 seats in a 66-member setup.
The BJP also appears set to be the largest party in the Nizamabad corporation, winning 24 out of 45 seats with results still pending.
Both Nizamabad and Karimnagar are among the eight Lok Sabha seats currently held by the BJP in Telangana.
From a total of 2,582 wards across municipalities, Congress achieved 1,347 wards, while BRS secured 717 wards. The BJP followed in third place with 261 seats. Other parties, including AIMIM and independents, won 256 seats.
Results have been reported from 378 divisions out of 414 divisions in seven municipal corporations. Congress garnered 177 divisions, BRS acquired 57 divisions, while the BJP won 70 divisions and others secured 74 seats.
Voter participation was impressive, with over 73 percent of voters casting their ballots across 116 municipalities and seven corporations on Wednesday. The counting of votes commenced at 8 a.m. on Friday under strict security.
A total of 52,17,413 voters were eligible to vote in 2,981 wards spanning 123 urban local bodies. According to the State Election Commission (SEC), 38,09,406 voters participated in the voting.
The voter turnout in the municipalities reached 75.88 percent, while 66.05 percent of the electorate in municipal corporations exercised their right to vote.
Notifications for elections concerning municipal chairpersons, vice-chairpersons, and corporation mayors, along with deputy mayors, are set to be issued on Saturday.
Newly elected councillors and corporators will take their oaths on February 16 (Monday) and will also elect municipal chairpersons, vice-chairpersons, along with corporation mayors and deputy mayors on the same day.