Telangana’s ruling Congress party has won around 60% of urban local bodies. Three out of seven corporations and 64 out of 116 municipalities were taken over by the Congress party. While Forward Block won one urban local body, the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) won 13 municipalities. In 38 municipalities, there were no obvious winners. This led to Congress and BRS engaging in camp politics to get independents and others to become chairpersons and vice-chairpersons. In seventy-five percent of the municipalities, the Congress party declared victory. BRS’s outstanding performance prevented the ruling party from winning all the seats.
The Congress party won 1,347 wards out of 2,582 wards in municipalities, while the BRS won 717 wards. With 261 seats, the BJP came in far third. Others, such as independents and AIMIM, secured 256 seats. Results from 378 of the 414 divisions in seven municipal corporations have been obtained thus far. The BRS won 57 divisions, while Congress won 177. While other parties won 74 seats, the BJP won 70 divisions. On Wednesday, 116 municipalities and seven corporations held municipal elections, with almost 73 percent of voters having cast ballots. In the midst of strict security, voting began at 8 a.m. on Friday.
52,17,413 electors in 2,981 wards across the 123 urban local bodies were eligible to vote. The State Election Commission (SEC) reports that 38,09,406 people voted. In municipalities, 75.88 percent of voters cast ballots, whereas 66.05 percent of voters cast ballots in municipal corporations. On Monday, February 16, newly elected council members and corporators will take an oath of office. On the same day, they will elect corporation mayors and deputy mayors, as well as municipal chairpersons and vice-chairpersons.
