The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have won eight seats each in the decade-old state of Telangana, whereas the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) drew a blank in the Lok Sabha elections. While the BJP has doubled its tally from 2019, the Congress had merely won three seats in the previous Lok Sabha elections.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi has retained his Hyderabad seat for the fifth time in a row, defeating controversial BJP candidate Madhavi Latha, who was accused of supressing Muslim voters on polling day.
Owaisi, over the last five elections, has substantially increased its victory margin in Hyderabad – from 1 lakh votes in 2004 to 3 lakh votes in 2024.
The results have sounded a death knell for the BRS, which came to power after the formation of a separate Telangana in 2014 and ruled the state for a decade, until BRS supremo and then-Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was unseated by the Congress in the 2023 Assembly elections. The party had won nine seats in 2019.
The Lok Sabha verdict also signifies how the contest in Telangana, with 17 Parliamentary seats, has largely become a bipolar fight between the Congress and the BJP, albeit at the cost of a regional party.
Here are the key takeaways from the election results.
The Weakening of BRS
Since the BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) came to power in 2014, the party's seat and vote share have been on a steady rise, with the 2018 Assembly elections taking it to new heights. What helped was the party's welfare schemes that appealed to farmers, women, and rural voters.
The Congress, on the other hand, was considered decimated and was pushed to third place (after the BJP) – until Revanth Reddy's leadership propelled the party back to power in December 2023.
The baffling defeat of the BRS in the Assembly elections was attributed to anti-incumbency against the party's 88+ MLAs. Despite these palpable sentiments, KCR chose to retain most of his MLAs as candidates in the Assembly elections – a move that didn't go down well for the party.
The Congress' six guarantees to the citizens of Telangana also worked against the BRS. And once the party was reduced to 39 seats in the Assembly, its prospects in Lok Sabha elections took an instant turn for the worse.
In the run-up to the 2024 polls, several BRS leaders jumped ship to the Congress and the BJP, forcing the party to scramble for candidates.
More importantly, as voters often tend to choose national parties in Lok Sabha elections over regional parties, the BRS lost its edge there too, making the elections a two-way fight between a newly rejuvenated Congress and a highly determined BJP.
BJP's Growing Presence in Telangana
The Lok Sabha election results are a testament to the BJP's growing presence in Telangana. From winning one seat (Goshamahal) in the 2018 Assembly elections to capturing eight seats in the 2023 Assembly elections, the party's growth has been steady in the state.
Over the last decade, the party has tried to consolidate Hindu votes in Telangana by fanning communal flames – whether it is through alleged hate speeches or by allegedly inciting violence against minorities.
The party has also tried to manipulate Hyderabad's history of Nizam's rule by calling for the renaming of places in the region in an attempt to "reclaim" its so-called Hindu past.
During the second term of the BRS, the BJP made substantial gains at the cost of the Congress – winning four seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 40+ seats in the 2020 Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, and subsequent by-elections in Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies.
In the 2023 Assembly polls, the party extended its presence in north Telangana, where the population of minorities and tribals is high.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections too, the party retained its existing three seats in the north Telangana region – Adilabad, Karimnagar, and Nizamabad.
Additionally, it won Medak and Malkajgiri in the central Telangana and Hyderabad regions. The party's candidate in Medak, M Raghunandan Rao, is a former MLA from the region, and the Malkajgiri candidate Eatala Rajender is a former BRS leader with a significant hold in the state.
The party chief in the state, Kishan Reddy, retained the Secunderabad seat as well.
The BRS also won Chevella, where former Congress MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy contested on a BJP ticket, and in Mahbubnagar, where former Congress leader DK Aruna contested.
These two regions were the strongholds of the BRS.
How the Congress Fared
Several exit polls this election predicted that the BJP would make historic gains in Telangana and that it would bag a lion's share of the BRS' vote share.
But it appears that the Congress government coming to power in 2023 has had an impact on the party's performance.
The party had won several seats in south and central Telangana in the Assembly election – and these victories have translated to votes in the Lok Sabha polls too. The Congress won in Nagarkurnool, Nalgonda, Bhongir, Warangal, Khammam, and Mahabubabad. It won one seat, namely Peddapalli, in north Telangana too.
The party also won Zahirabad in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, which saw several instances of communal violence during the Ram Mandir consecration in January.
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