Telangana Assembly polls: 36.68% turnout recorded till 1 pm as voting underway in 119 seats

The BRS led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is banking on the development projects and welfare schemes his government implemented over the last 9 years, whereas the Congress sensed strong anti-incumbency against the government. The party has offered six guarantees, much like what worked for it during a successful campaign in neighbouring Karnataka, and announced specific declarations for women, Dalits, BCs, minorities, youth etc, besides 70 promises in their manifesto, offering much more than what BRS has to offer. The BJP offers a corruption-free double-engine government under a CM from the BC community.

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In the run-up to the polls, CM KCR held 96 election rallies in as many assembly constituencies across the state. The CM is contesting from the Kamareddy segment in northern Telangana in addition to his home turf Gajwel. In most of his speeches, he spoke about the development works he undertook, recalled the ‘dark days’ during Congress rule in unified Andhra Pradesh and appealed against the return of Congress if people wished for a continuation of welfare schemes. CM’s son and the party’s working president KT Rama Rao and minister T Harish Rao also held over a hundred meetings. Able leadership and stable government are what his party has been propagating.

The Congress, meanwhile, hit out at KCR and his party for misrule, corruption and a dictatorial style of functioning. As state chief A Revanth Reddy toured around the state and addressed a hundred meetings. Reddy is taking on KCR at Kamareddy, besides contesting from his home turf Kodangal where he is seeking to wrest the seat from BRS. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge visited the state on multiple tours and convened public meetings and roadshows till the close of the campaign on the 28th. The Congress managed to pull out a robust campaign around a need for change and raised issues of unemployment and corruption. The Congress has tied up with CPI which will contest one seat.

The BJP, which brought the prime minister, home minister and several other union ministers to campaign for the party in Telangana, rigorously attacked the BRS government on issues of corruption and family rule. During the campaign, PM Modi announced the setting up of a national turmeric board, a tribal university and also a committee to fast-track sub-categorisation of SC communities as part of their outreach. The party also promised to abolish religion-based reservations and increase the quota of OBC, SC and ST communities. Among several promises, it also offered to bring down prices of petrol and diesel by reducing VAT on fuel if voted to power. The BJP has tied up with actor Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party which will contest 8 seats.

Of the total 119 seats, 19 are reserved for SC and 12 for ST. The BRS had won 88 seats in the 2018 Assembly polls, while the Congress came a distant second with 19 seats. Asaduddin Owaisi’s old-city headquartered AIMIM retained their 7 seats whereas Telugu Desam Party and BJP won 2 and 1 seat each. Two seats were won by independents.

The Election Commission has arranged for 35,356 polling stations, 14464 are in urban areas. 644 model polling stations are also set up. Also, 597 polling stations are managed by women and 120 others by persons with disabilities. 45,000 police personnel and 23,500 home guards from AP, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, MP and Odisha are also on the ground to enhance security arrangements.