Telangana municipal poll results: Congress takes a clear lead; setback for BRS, BJP

Members of the Telangana Congress celebrate as the party takes a decisive lead in the municipal elections.

• Congress leads Telangana municipal polls with 240 wards won
• BRS secures 140 wards, BJP trails with 37 wards
• Swearing-in for elected councillors set for February 16

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As results of the Telangana Municipal elections started trickling in on Friday, the Congress party emerged as the clear frontrunner, with the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) a close second and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trailing in the third position.

Results for 448 municipal corporation wards in Telangana have been declared so far. As per information available with the Telangana State Election Commission, the Congress (INC) has won 240 wards, while the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has secured 140. The BJP won 37 wards.

Widely viewed as a mid-term referendum on Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s leadership, the results are expected to play a crucial role in shaping the state’s political landscape, amid heated BRS rivalry.

Counting of votes polled in the February 11 elections to 116 municipalities and seven municipal corporations in Telangana began at 8am on Friday across 123 centres. Nearly 12,000 police personnel and Quick Response Teams have been deployed at the counting centres to maintain law and order.

More than 52 lakh voters were eligible to cast their ballots to decide the fate of nearly 13,000 candidates in these civic polls. Over 73 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in the elections.

The process commenced with postal ballots, followed by regular ballot papers, as the elections were conducted using ballot papers instead of EVMs, which is expected to make the counting exercise time-consuming.

Major political parties, particularly the BJP and the BRS, begun shifting their nominees to camps as a precautionary measure to prevent rival parties from luring away potential winning candidates in the closely contested urban local bodies. The winning candidates will be brought back to their respective corporations and municipalities on February 16.

The outcome of the three-cornered contest between the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP and BRS is crucial as it would be an indicator of their popularity among the voters. While the Congress is looking to consolidate its position as the dominant player in the state politics, the BJP is hoping to emerge as an alternative to the Congress and BRS in the 2028 assembly polls.

With early trends indicating the victory of the Congress in most of the municipal bodies, Congress leader Mettu Sai Kumar said the people of Telangana have backed the development initiatives of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and reaffirmed their faith in the party. He said the results reflect the trust voters have placed in both the party and the Chief Minister, adding that Congress will stand firmly with the people who have supported it.

The elected councillors and corporators will be sworn in at 11.30am on February 16. Following this, a special meeting will be held to elect mayor and deputy mayor of the municipal corporations and chairperson and vice-chairperson of municipalities.