A close contest is underway in Telangana where the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are neck and neck as the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 is underway. Seventeen seats in the state went to polls on May 13 in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. As projected in the exit polls, the Congress is leading in seven and BJP in eight, leaving behind the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) with one each seat.
BJP Candidates are leading in Malkajgiri, Secunderabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Mahabubnagar, Nagarkurnool, Nizamabad and Chevella. Party Candidates Eatala Rajender, BJP State President G Kishan Reddy, Godam Nagesh, Bandi Sanjay, DK Aruna, P Bharat, D Aravind, and Konda Vishweshwar Reddy are leading their nearest rival candidates.
Congress candidates are leading in Nalgonda, Zahirabad, Peddapalli, Khammam, Bhongir, Warangal and Mahabubabad. K Raghuver Reddy, Suresh Shetkar, G Vamshi Krishna, R Raghuram Reddy, Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy, A Ramesh and P Balram Naik Are in the Lead for the Congress.
BRS is leading in Medak, and AIMIM appears to retain its stronghold seat of Hyderabadas per the early trends on Tuesday. In Medak, BRS candidate P Venkatram Reddy, and in Hyderabad, Asaduddin Owaisi are in the lead.
One of the keenly contested seats in the state was Hyderabad seat which has been with the AIMIM for the last 40 years. BJP candidate K Madhavi Latha exuded confidence in overthrowing the AIMIM from its stronghold. In the first round, Madhavi Latha was leading against Owaisi, before the latter took the lead.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and Congress had won four and three seats respectively, while AIMIM won its sole seat of Hyderabad, whereas BRS had secured nine seats.
After the loss in 2023 state Assembly elections, BRS has been facing an existential crisis with many of its leaders shifting loyalties. From 104 seats, BRS was reduced to 39 seats, even though the vote share margin between Congress and BRS was less than 2 per cent. Another loss in the Parliament election will be a heavy blow for the party that was in power in Telangana for the decade.
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During the campaign phase, the BJP and the Congress had termed the general elections as a battle between the two national parties, pushing aside BRS as irrelevant in the political scheme of things. The BRS, meanwhile, went to polls claiming that it was the only party that upheld the interests of the state, while the two national parties have their agendas set in the national capital.
As per the latest trends, the margins of votes over the nearest candidates for three Congress candidates and one BJP candidate have crossed one lakh already.
In Nalgonda, Mahabubabad and Khammam, the Congress party leads with 1.85 lakh, 1 lakh, and 1.74 lakh votes respectively. BJP is leading Malkajgiri seat with over 1 lakh votes already.
The least margin of votes over the nearest candidate is seen in Mahabubnagar (BJP), Zaheerabad (Congress) and Medak(BRS). These three seats are witnessing a close contest.
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BRS candidate P Venkatram Reddy leads with over 3,300 votes in Medak, whereas G Anil Kumar and DK Aruna of Congress and BJP, respectively, lead with over 10,000 votes.
