Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
Hyderabad, Feb 13: Telangana’s ruling Congress party has emerged as the dominant force in the state’s urban local body elections, winning nearly 60 per cent of municipalities, according to results declared on Friday night.
The Indian National Congress captured 64 out of 116 municipalities and secured control of three out of seven municipal corporations. The main Opposition, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), won 13 municipalities, while the Forward Block managed to capture one urban local body. No party secured a clear majority in 38 municipalities, leading to intense post-poll manoeuvring as Congress and BRS seek support from independents and smaller parties to claim chairperson and vice-chairperson posts.
The Congress claimed it had effectively won 75 per cent of municipalities, though a strong performance by the BRS prevented a complete sweep. In the 2020 civic polls, the then-ruling TRS (now BRS) had dominated more than 100 urban local bodies.
In municipal corporations, Congress won Mancherial, Ramagundam and Nalgonda, and was leading in Mahabubnagar. In the 60-member Kothagudem corporation, Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI) secured 22 seats each, with Congress leaders describing the contest between the two as friendly.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not win control of any municipality independently but emerged as the single largest party in the Karimnagar corporation, winning 30 of 66 seats. It was also poised to become the largest party in the Nizamabad corporation, securing 24 of 45 seats declared by 8 p.m. Both Karimnagar and Nizamabad are among the eight Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana represented by the BJP.
Out of 2,582 municipal wards, Congress won 1,347, BRS secured 717, and the BJP finished third with 261. Others, including AIMIM and independents, won 256 wards. In the seven municipal corporations, results from 378 of 414 divisions showed Congress leading with 177 seats, followed by BJP with 70, BRS with 57, and others with 74.
More than 73 per cent of voters participated in the elections held on Wednesday across 116 municipalities and seven corporations. Of the 52,17,413 eligible voters in 2,981 wards across 123 urban local bodies, 38,09,406 cast their ballots. Turnout stood at 75.88 per cent in municipalities and 66.05 per cent in corporations, according to the State Election Commission.
The notification for the election of municipal chairpersons, vice-chairpersons, mayors and deputy mayors will be issued on Saturday. Newly elected councillors and corporators are scheduled to take oath on February 16, following which elections for top civic posts will be conducted the same day.