Telangana: local bodies elections
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2020
TRS sweeps municipal polls
January 25, 2020: The Times of India
Telangana Rashtra Samithi sweeps municipal polls in state; results a people's endorsement, says party
HYDERABAD: The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Saturday swept the municipal elections, capturing power in over 100 out of 120 municipalities and seven out of nine municipal corporations. The party called the victory an endorsement of its policies.
"The people of Telangana have once again demonstrated that they stand by TRS, whatever is the election," TRS working president KT Rama Rao said.
Main opposition the Congress was distant second with majority in three municipalities. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won a municipality each. Counting of votes was underway in some places and all the results are expected to be announced by the evening.
The State Election Commission (SEC) took up counting of votes at 134 centres.
Over 70 per cent of 53.37 lakh voters had cast their votes on Wednesday to elect 325 corporators for municipal corporations and 2,727 councillors for municipalities. A total of 1,746 candidates were in fray in municipal corporations while 11,099 candidates tested their political fortunes in municipalities.
As expected TRS swept the polls, securing majority in over 100 municipalities by winning more than 1,500 seats. Congress was distant second with 495 seats.
BJP, which was claiming to emerge as the main opposition after winning four Lok Sabha seats last year, won 223 seats. Interestingly, independents won more seats than the opposition parties in several municipalities.
Independents were elected in 293 wards. Most of them were TRS rebels.
Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM won 56 seats. It captured power in Bhainsa, which was recently rocked by communal violence. TRS also dominated the elections to nine municipal corporations. It won 123 seats while BJP finished a distant second by winning 42 seats. Independents won 41 seats while Congress secured 37 seats.
TRS candidates were elected unanimously in 77 wards in municipalities and one ward in corporation while three candidates of AIMIM were elected unopposed in three municipal wards. Most of the municipalities and corporations are going to polls for the first time after they were carved out last year.
Celebrations broke out at TRS headquarters Telangana Bhavan in Hyderabad. Party cadres distributed sweets and burst crackers. TRS working president and cabinet minister KT Rama Rao said the victory increased his responsibility. He thanked people for once again reposing faith in TRS.
The newly-elected bodies will elect mayors, chairpersons and deputy chairpersons on January 27.
'Urban local body poll results, people's endorsement of TRS govt' The results of the urban local body polls in Telangana showed the people's endorsement of the welfare and development programmes carried out by the state government under Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's leadershp, K T Rama Rao said. "The people of Telangana have once again demonstrated that they stand by TRS, whatever is the election.
They have rejected the false campaign of opposition parties in the municipal polls," Rao, the state Municipal Administration Minister and son of the Chief Minister said in a statement.
His response came as TRS was on course to achieve an emphatic win in the Urban Local Body polls as counting of votes progressed.
Rama Rao, who oversaw the party's preparation for the municipal polls, said the "victory" became possible due to the efforts of the 60 lakh members of TRS.
He also appreciated the efforts of the party's "social media soldiers" for exposing the allegedly false campaign of opposition parties and for spreading awareness about the good work of the TRS government.
Observing that there are no elections for the next four years, he said TRS would re-dedicate itself to peoples welfare.
Polling for 120 municipalities and nine corporations was held amid tight security on January 22.
The TRS bagged all the 32 Zilla Parishads in the rural local body elections held last year and the party was hopeful of continuing its impressive performance in the municipal polls, TRS sources had said.
TRS has been successful at the hustings, having returned to power with a massive majority in the assembly polls held in December 2018.
It put up a decent performance in the Lok Sabha polls (winning 11 out of the total 19 seats), though it suffered an unexpected setback when TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter K Kavitha failed to retain her Nizamabad seat. BJP made surprise gains in the Lok Sabha polls, securing four seats.
TRS had won the Huzurnagar Assembly constituency bypoll held in October last year where bye-election was necessitated after state Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy quit following his election to the Lok Sabha.
Hyderabad civic polls: 2020 vis-à-vis 2016
December 4, 2020: The Times of India
From: December 4, 2020: The Times of India
Hyderabad civic polls: TRS still No.1 but loses huge ground; BJP makes big gains
NEW DELHI: The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) suffered a huge blow in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls as it failed to win a clear majority. The TRS emerged as the single largest party but it is the BJP which is celebrating as it has made huge inroads in the fiercely contested civic body polls.
The K Chandrashekar Rao-led TRS, which had swept the 2016 civic polls winning 99 wards, has returned with a greatly reduced strength bagging only 55 wards this time. It will now need the support of Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM to run the GHMC.
Upbeat over the party's impressive performance in the city civic poll, BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar said it was a "saffron strike" in which the electorate reposed faith in the BJP and voted against the ruling TRS.
The AIMIM, the third key player in these elections, has held its ground bagging 44 municipal seats, which is same as what it had managed in the last elections.
Reacting on the poll results, Owaisi said his party is confident that Telangana people will stop BJP from expanding its foot print. "We will fight the BJP in a democratic way. We are confident that people of Telangana will stop BJP from expanding its footprints in the state," Owaisi said.
Union home minister Amit Shah, who held a road show on the last day of campaigning, thanked the people of Telangana for reposing faith in the PM Modi-led BJP's politics of development.
KT Rama Rao, who managed the TRS campaign, claimed that the party lost with extremely narrow margins in about 10 to 12 divisions.
"I thank people of Hyderabad who chose TRS as the single largest party to represent them in Council. Result is certainly not what we expected, we're short of 20-25 seats," KTR said.
Congress relegated to distant fourth
For the Congress, the GHMC poll results will come as a huge disappointment. The party which won 2 seats in 2016 could not manage to better its tally despite all efforts.
The president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee N Uttam Kumar Reddy has resigned following the party's dismal performance in the civic polls.
The Congress saw key leaders leave the party ahead of the civic polls and has been relegated to a distant fourth in the civic body.
Significance of BJP's win
The BJP's impressive performance in these elections is significant as it clearly indicates that the party has replaced the Congress as the principal challenger to the TRS in the state.
In the last assembly elections, the BJP could manage to win only one seat with a vote share of 6.98 percent while the Congress had won 19 seats with a vote share of 28.43 percent.
However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP made impressive gains winning 4 seats with a vote share of 19.65 percent. The party followed this with a victory in the Dubbaka by-election.
With an eye on the next assembly elections, the BJP's all-out campaign in the civic polls, which raised several questions, was a well planned move to quickly move in and occupy the void created by a dwindling Congress in the state.
For the TRS, the results of the Hyderabad civic polls will be an eyeopener and an indication of the kind of challenge that awaits the ruling party in the next assembly elections.
(With agency inputs)
Koride Mahesh, December 6, 2020: The Times of India
From: Koride Mahesh, December 6, 2020: The Times of India
Saffron vote share spikes in Hyderabad even as pink glow dims
HYDERABAD: It all boiled down to 0.25% of votes that changed the fortunes of both the TRS and BJP in the fierce electoral battle to gain control of Greater Hyderabad civic body.
The TRS’s vote share was 35.81%, while the BJP was not far behind with 35.56% vote share.
The small difference in vote share was enough to get the TRS seven seats more than the BJP. TRS won 55 divisions, while BJP candidates emerged victorious in 48 out of 149 divisions (Neredmet division’s result has been withheld). Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM bagged 44 wards and Congress bagged two divisions.
What is staggering to note here is the way the BJP has improved its vote share from just 10.34% to 35.56% in the last 4-5 years. Whereas, the TRS’s vote share saw a 8% fall from 43.85% to 35.81% in the same period.
In terms of number of votes, going by the figures provided by the returning officers, the TRS got 12.04 lakh votes of the total 34 lakhs votes polled. The BJP got 11.95 lakh votes. The difference was just 9,000 votes.
Interestingly, the ruling TRS, which had won 99 wards in 2016 elections, enjoyed a vote share of 43.85%.
BJP leaders said they missed out on more than a dozen divisions with very narrow margins. “We came second in 79 divisions and got sizeable votes in 23 other divisions which were won by the AIMIM and Congress,” BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar said.
Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM bagged 44 wards, the same number of seats it won in 2016 polls. What is significant is the improvement in its vote share by 3%. In the last civic elections, the party’s vote share was 15.85%, which has gone up to 18.76% in this election.
Congress won just Uppal and AS Rao Nagar divisions. The party’s vote share was 6.67%. In 2016, its vote share was 10%. “The party’s vote share was reduced by 3.5% in the last four years,” an analyt said.
The Telugu Desam Party’s predicament is no different. The TDP won only one seat in Kukatpally in the 2016 elections, but its vote share of 13.11% was better than BJP’s 10.34%. Both TDP and BJP contested together in that election. And in this elections, the TDP failed to win even one single ward though it fielded candidates in all the wards.
2021
TRS sweeps civic polls
May 4, 2021: The Times of India
TRS made a clean sweep in the civic body polls by winning municipal corporations of Warangal and Khammam and five municipalities of Siddipet, Nakrekal, Jadcherla, Atchampet and Kothur.
