The community tilted the result in Congress’ favour against sitting MLAs of Bharath Rashtriya Samithi (BRS) in Mahbubnagar, Huzurnagar, Warangal East, Khammam, Bodhan, Ibrahimpatnam, Shadnagar, Ramagundam, Nizamabad Rural and Nalgonda.
Team Clarion
HYDERABAD — A significant shift in the Muslim voting pattern in Telangana has greatly helped Congress gain victory at the hustings in Telangana state.
At 13% of the state’s 3.06 crore population, Muslim voters held sway in at least 45 of the state assembly’s 119 seats.
The tilt in the Muslim voting was largely due to the decision of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Telangana Muslim Organisations’s offer of conditional support to the Congress. The JAC, accordingly, appealed to all the Muslims in the state to unite and vote for the Congress. “We believe that this decision will serve as a tool in exerting pressure on the Congress to implement the promises in the Minorities’ Declarations within six months of coming to power,” JAC state convenor Syed Saleem Pasha said in a statement merely a week before the state went to the polls on November 30.
However, Congress should not take the support of the Muslim community for granted as the JAC’s Pasha said the Muslims’ backing to Congress in the next year’s Lok Sabha elections will depend on the party’s commitment to the advancement and progress of the Muslim community.
The community tilted the result in Congress’ favour against sitting MLAs of Bharath Rashtriya Samithi (BRS) in Mahbubnagar, Huzurnagar, Warangal East, Khammam, Bodhan, Ibrahimpatnam, Shadnagar, Ramagundam, Nizamabad Rural and Nalgonda.
The minority votes also gave the crucial lead to its candidates. The party even bagged the Warangal West seta, which it had not won in the last four elections.
The BRS was extremely short of Muslim leaders within its fold and relied heavily on All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) to get the Muslim votes in its kitty. A majority of Muslims voted for the BRS in the 2014 and 2018 elections.
Setback for BJP
Meanwhile, in a significant blow to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), key leaders, including Eatala Rajender, Bandi Sanjay, Dharmapuri Arvind, and Raghunandan Rao, tasted defeat.
Eatala Rajender, who left the BRS to join the BJP, lost in both the Huzurabad and Gajwel constituencies, challenging former colleague K. Chandrasekhar Rao in the latter.
Bandi Sanjay, BJP’s national general secretary and Karimnagar MP, faced defeat in Karimnagar against BRS leader Gangula Kamalakar.
The decision to remove Sanjay as the state chief before the elections was seen by political observers as a contributing factor to the party’s poor performance.
Sanjay contested the results, alleging manipulation by Kamalakar and demanding a recount due to malfunctioning EVMs in two polling booths.
Dharmapuri Arvind, another prominent BJP leader and Nizamabad MP, lost in Koratla to BRS candidate Kalvakuntala Sanjay. Additionally, Raghunandan Rao, contesting from Dubbak, suffered a significant defeat against BRS leader Kota Prabhakar Reddy.
However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to bag eight seats amid a two-way battle between the Congress and BRS. The eight constituencies include:
Surprisingly, BJP candidate K. Venkat Ramana Reddy secured victory in Kamareddy, defeating both BRS and Congress chiefs KCR and Revanth Reddy. These unexpected outcomes have reshaped the post-poll landscape in Telangana, posing challenges for the BJP’s political standing in the state.
