Telangana Polls: Dominated By BRS, Will The State See A New Party At Helm?

Telangana Election 2023: Since the formation of Telangana in 2014, the state has been with the K Chandrashekhar Rao-led BRS and has been tough to upstage for the Congress or BJP.

BRS president and Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao during 'Praja Ashirvada Sabha' in Gajwel

The young state of Telangana will vote on Thursday as Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrashekhar Rao eyes a third term amid tough fight from Congress. The youngest state of the Union of India was carved out of northwest Andhra Pradesh to become the 29th state of the country and since then has been ruled by the BRS.

After many years of demand for a separate state, the momentum accelerated with the formation of Telangana Rashtra Samithi in 2001, with Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao as its head. In fact, the party wa formed as a breakaway faction from the TDP.

Before Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, the Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were the primary contenders. But since the formation of Telangana in 2014, the state has been with the BRS. Since then, KCR has since been the CM. 

Telangana Election History And Opinion Polls

But the upcoming polls seem to be a challenge for him to retain his post as Congress is projected to win seats ranging between 48 to 60, according to ABP CVoter opinion poll, while KCR-led BRS might get only 43 to 55 seats. 

According to the survey, the Congress might have an edge over other parties in terms of vote share, with a projection of 39 per cent as opposed to 28 per cent in 2018 assembly polls. The BJP is also expected to gain 9 per cent vote share and jump from 7 per cent to 16 per cent in comparison to the last assembly polls. 

BRS, however, might suffer a blow with a loss of 9 per cent of vote share. In 2018, the party won 88 out of 119 seats with a vote share of 47 per cent, while this year, it might come down to 37 per cent. 

In the previous assembly polls, Congress won 19 of the 99 seats contested while BJP could win just one seat out of 118 contested. Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won 7 out of 8 seats it fought on. 

In 2014, the TRS, as BRS was then called, won 63 Assembly seats and saw its vote share tripling as compared to 2009, rising to 34 per cent.