Around 32.6 million voters will decide the fate of 2,290 contestant from 119 assembly seats in Telangana on Thursday, after a high decibel campaign that saw top national leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief K Chandrashekar Rao addressing a series of meetings ahead of polls.
The results will be declared on December 3 along with that of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram, where the voting has taken place between November 7 and November 25. Telangana is last among these states to vote.
“The polling will start at 7 am and will end at 5 pm in 106 constituencies and from 7 am to 4 pm in 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas. More than 250,000 staff will be engaged in poll duties for the assembly elections,” chief electoral officer Vikas Raj said.
The ruling BRS has fielded candidates in all 119 seats, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and actor Pawan Kalyan-headed Jana Sena are contesting in 111 and 8 seats respectively, while Congress has given one seat to its ally Communist Party of India (CPI), and fighting from 118 others.
Read more: Poll campaign of independent candidate creates ripple in Telangana
Among the top contestants in the fray are chief minister KCR, his minister son KT Rama Rao, state Congress president A Revanth Reddy and BJP MLAs Bandi Sanjay Kumar and D Arvind.
KCR is contesting from two segments — Gajwel and Kamareddy. In Kamareddy, Congress has fielded its state president Revanth Reddy to take on the chief minister, while the BJP fielded Venkata Ramana Reddy from the constituency.
In Gajwel, BJP has deployed its election campaign chairman Eatala Rajender against KCR. Revanth Reddy, a Lok Sabha member, is also contesting from Kodangal which he had represented earlier. BJP’s Rajender is seeking re-election from Huzurabad. Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM has put up candidates in nine segments in the city.
As part of his campaign, PM Modi addressed rallies for three days in a row in the state, including at Kamareddy, Nirmal, Maheswaram, and Karimnagar, besides holding a massive roadshow in the state capital.
He had also attended a ‘BJP’s BC Atma Gourava Sabha’ (backward classes self-respect meeting) and a public meeting organised by the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS).
Modi had said the Centre would soon form a committee which would adopt all possible ways for empowering Madigas (a SC community) with regard to their demand of categorisation of Scheduled Castes.
Besides Modi, a host of senior BJP leaders — Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma, Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa and Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai participated in the party’s campaign in the state.
For BRS, the KCR addressed as many as 96 public meetings during the campaign. BRS working president and KCR’s son KT Rama Rao also campaigned extensively for BRS.
Also read: Aspiration vs welfare: How caste politics is playing out in Telangana
The party’s campaign centered around the previous Congress regime’s failures and ongoing welfare measures for farmers and women and other sections of society. KCR also highlighted his struggle to achieve Telangana statehood.
The Congress campaign was led by its leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Revanth Reddy. It focused mainly on the alleged corruption of the BRS government while highlighting its six poll guarantees.
Aisha Patel is a dedicated Indian correspondent with a deep understanding of the nation’s diverse affairs. With a background in Indian culture, politics, and current events, she provides in-depth analysis and timely reporting on domestic issues within India.
