Lok Sabha elections 2024: Congress, BJP win eight seats each in Telangana; BRS draws a blank

Surprisingly, nowhere did the BRS candidates put a semblance of fight as the final figures started coming out.

The ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Telangana shared honours in the Lok Sabha elections, winning eight seats each with the other seat — Hyderabad — going to AIMIM. The main Opposition Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) drew a blank.

For the Congress and the BJP it was time to celebrate with the two parties doubling their tally of 2019 elections as their candidates secured record margins of victory. As many as 11 candidates secured a majority of over 1 lakh votes with Congress nominee from Nalgonda, Kunduru Raghuveer Reddy, securing the highest margin of 5.59 lakh.

Surprisingly, nowhere did the BRS candidates put a semblance of fight as the final figures started coming out. In the 2019 elections, BRS had won nine seats, BJP four, Congress three and the MIM one.

The clear takeaway from the results was the partial polarisation witnessed in north and central Telangana, where the BJP put up a good fight and retained some of the seats it had held in 2019. The Congress’ six-month rule in the State was put to test and it came out triumphant in eight seats, particularly in the south Telangana region.

The Congress won the Nalgonda, Bhongir, Khammam, Mahabubabad (ST), Warangal SC, Zaheerabad and Nagarkurnool SC reserved seats with impressive margins. All these constituencies during the December 2023 State Assembly elections had returned Congress candidates, and their presence boosted the candidates of the party’s Lok Sabha nominees.

For the BJP, its candidates retained the Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Secunderabad seats and wrested the Chevella, Mahabubnagar, Medak and Malkajgiri constituencies.

It was Narendra Modi’s charisma that worked for the BJP in north and central Telangana, as the results reveal. Party candidates during the campaign openly sought support for BJP, asking people to vote for the party “looking at Modi’s face”.