K Chandrashekhar Rao
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has registered a massive victory in Telangana, paving the way for K Chandrashekhar Rao's second consecutive term as the chief minister of the state.
The TRS was ahead in 88 seats (Won:81, Leading:07) while the Congress was leading in 20 seats ( Won:18, Leading: 02), acording to the Election Commission data recorded at 10 pm on Tuesday.
The party looks set to secure almost three-fourths majority in the Assembly which proves that KCR's gamble of going for early polls in the state has paid TRS rich dividends.
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has failed to make a mark in Telangana with only one seat in its kitty.
Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has managed to win six seats. The AIMIM chief threw his weight behind the TRS in the election campaign, promising to give support in the government formation.
The TRS has garned 49.6 per cent votes, moving way ahead of its opponents while the Congress has got the support of 28.4 per cent electorates, propelling it to the second spot in the state.
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A very marginal numbers of voters chose not to go with any of the party with 1.1 percent pressing NOTA (None of the above) button.
TRS President and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao's daughter K. Kavitha said there was no doubt that the party would retain power with a huge majority.
Kavitha, a member of the Lok Sabha, said there was no anti-incumbency as the TRS government had done well on all fronts during the last four-and-a-half years.
As many as 73.20 per cent of 2.80 crore electorate voted in the elections held in all 119 constituencies on Friday.
The TRS won 63 seats in 2014 while Congress had finished with 21.
Rao had dissolved the Assembly in September, eight months ahead of schedule, in a political gamble that paid off handsomely, as the party is expected to improve on its previous strength of 63 in the 119-seat Assembly. However, TRS strength had risen to 82 after defections from TDP and Congress before the elections.
"The people reposed faith in the leadership of our chief minister and they did not believe in the disinformation campaign of the opposition," said T Harish Rao, a minister in the outgoing government and a nephew of Rao.
The first two confirmed results have gone in favour of the TRS with its candidates M Sanjay Kumar and Sunke Ravishankar winning the Jagtial and Choppadandi seats.
Despite allegations of perpetuating "family rule", KCR, as the caretaker chief minister is popularly known, his son K T Rama Rao and nephew T Harish Rao have established
comfortable leads over their rivals in Gajwel, Sircilla and Siddipet constituencies respectively.
Celebrations erupted in TRS offices throughout the state as well as in the Telangana Bhavan, the party headquarters in Hyderabad. TRS activists dancing to drum-beats, burst firecrackers and distributed sweets.
Congress candidates were leading in 22 seats and its ally TDP in two, confirming that their alliance was facing an expected rout in the face of the TRS juggernaut, which also trampled BJP, which was ahead in three seats. The party had five members in the dissolved assembly. Congress and TDP had 18 and three seats in the outgoing house.
Senior TDP leader Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy said the factors leading to the drubbing needed to be analysed.
"We were expecting to get more seats. The results are not to our expectations. we have to analyse and introspect where it went wrong, and we have to work together," Reddy told
PTI, adding peoples verdict needed to be respected.
The Congress said it suspected "manipulation" of the Electronic Voting Machines, and demanded that all votes be counted using the VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) to ascertain the exact number of votes polled by each candidate.
"Going by the distorted trends, there is a strong suspicion that EVM machines have been manipulated. We demand that 100 percent counting of VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit
Trail) must be taken up in all constituencies.
"All Congress candidates should submit letters to their returning officers demanding counting of VVPAT paper trails," a communication from the Congress quoted state party president N Uttam Kumar Reddy as saying.
With defeat staring the opposition alliance in the face, CPI general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy alleged: "Huge distribution of money, particulary on the last day
(before the election)...purchasing the votes..this must have resulted in this victory for TRS."
Claiming that the elections were not free and fair, Reddy said it was not a moral but only "technical" victory for the TRS.
The Congress had forged an pre-poll opposition alliance with the TDP, Telangana Jana Samiti and the CPI.
Watch: TRS set to win with three-fourths majority
( With inputs from agencies )
