Senior officers inspect the counting centre a day before counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections 2024, in Hyderabad on June 03, 2024.
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL
With the results of Lok Sabha polls 2024 set to be out on Tuesday, an interesting comment by former Chief Minister of Telangana and Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao proves that the party is expecting a huge downslide at the cost of Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
While addressing the party cadre on the State Formation DayKCR said electoral losses were not new to the party and it won’t be demoralised by the Parliament results outcome too. This sums up the mood within the party and is in tune with several exit poll predictions.
Also Read : Telangana Election Results 2024 LIVE updates
According to a credible poll survey agency, the BRS is likely to lose around 16 to 18% vote share from its 2023 Assembly poll figures. The party polled 37.35% votes for its 39 seats in the 2023 Assembly polls, which was way down from the 46.87% votes it polled in the 2018 Assembly elections winning 88 seats.
The big question
The present share of 37.35% will be drastically reduced to near about 20%, according to the figures claimed by a few poll survey agencies. Where does this massive 17 to 18% would go is the big question and whichever party gets the lion’s share from it is likely to touch the double figures in Telangana. Both the BJP and Congress are confident of taking the bigger pie.
The Congress which polled 39.4% in 2023 Assembly elections to win 64 seats is hoping that the BRS voters, particularly women and Muslims have backed it in the Parliament elections for a variety of reasons. While women are happy with the free bus ride and 200 units of free power supply schemes, the Muslim community preferred the Congress as it saw the main challenger to the BJP at the national level.
Negated disadvantages in Greater Hyderabad, claims Congress
Even Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy ensured friendly relations with the MIM after coming to power in a way forcing it to stay away from a friendly alliance with the BRS that they had in the Assembly elections. “The BRS performed well in 24 seats in the Greater Hyderabad area mainly due to the Muslim community preferring it over the Congress. We had no city leadership either to make an impression on the voters. But now, as the ruling party, we have negated those disadvantages,” argued Sama Rammohan Reddy, TPCC Media in-charge.
The other sections like Women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and youngsters who stood behind the Congress in the Assembly elections continued to support it. “The BRS voters among these sections have preferred us over the BJP in the Parliament elections as BRS was not seen as a serious contender,” said Mr. Rammohan Reddy citing their party survey reports.
Basis of BJP’s confidence
The BJP’s confidence in taking away the BRS share stems from the Modi factor which they strongly believe made a huge difference. The BJP did well in the Assembly polls too securing 13.9% votes in the 2023 Assembly elections compared to just 6.98% in the 2018 elections. But its vote share in the 2019 Parliament elections, held a few months after the Assembly polls, went up massively to touch 19.65% to secure four Parliament seats.
That people preferred Mr. Modi for the Parliament was clear in 2019 and this would repeat in 2024 as well is the party’s argument. “BJP will secure more than 35% votes now given the dire straits the BRS is in and its erosion from North and South Telangana. BJP improved its share almost by three times in 2019 when both BRS and Congress were strong. With the BRS down now and the wind in favour of Modi, the party would win more than 35% votes and touch the double-digit figures,” says Y.L. Srinivas, Professor of English and a BJP ideologue.
In the 2019 Parliament elections, BRS won 9 seats securing 41.70% vote share followed by Congress which won three seats bagging 29.79% votes and the BJP with 19.65% vote share won four seats. It won an additional seat despite securing 10% votes less than Congress. How much of the BRS’s 41.70% vote share the BJP and Congress have snatched will decide who would win majority seats in Telangana.
