As the counting for Telangana Assembly elections 2023 are underway with an edge to Congress in early trends, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and its chief Asaduddin Owaisi are in for a setback as they have managed to get a lead on only three seats, as compared to seven seats in the previous elections.
According to early trends, only AIMIM's Akbaruddin Owaisi, Asaduddin's brother, is leading in Chandrayangutta. Earlier, Mandagiri Swamy Yadav was leading in Rajendranagar and Jaffer Hussain was leading in Yakutpura, but are now trailing behind Congress in both constituencies. This comes after Asaduddin Owaisi decided to contest in Rajendranagar and Jubilee Hills constituencies in addition to seven existing seats.
Chandrayangutta is the bastion of Akbaruddin Owaisi, having won the seat in 2014 and 2018. Other prominent candidates in the constituency include Muppi Seetharam Reddy from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), B Nagesh from the Congress party, Kowdi Mahender from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
To form the state government, a party or coalition must obtain a majority of votes in the Legislative Assembly. The total number of seats in a state's Legislative Assembly determines the majority vote in each state Assembly. In every state, the majority mark consists of half of the total Assembly seats plus an additional seat. There are 119 seats in the Telangana Assembly and the majority mark is 60.
What happened in the 2018 and 2014 Assembly Elections in Telangana?
In the 2018 Telangana Assembly Election, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) led by K Chandrasekhar Rao formed the government after getting 88 seats in the Assembly. The Congress was reduced to just 19 seats. Rao became the Chief Minister for the second straight time after ruling the state from 2014 to 2018. In the 2014 Telangana Election, the TRS won a majority with 63 seats while the Congress managed to get just 21 seats.
AIMIM managed only seven seats out of 119 seats, most of the seats falling in the Old Hyderabad area, considered as Asaduddin Owaisi's stronghold. However, his grip in the constituency appear to be weakening as early polls show many of his leaders trailing.
Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM was predicted to win six seats in the Greater Hyderabad region in the India TV-CNX exit poll. Greater Hyderabad has a total of 28 Assembly seats.
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