Telangana Election Results 2023: Congress to Form First non-BRS Govt, Wins 64 Seats with 39.40% Vote Share; All Eyes on Revanth Reddy’s Role

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The Congress staked claim to form the first non-BRS government in Telangana, as it crossed the magic mark of 60 seats on Sunday. All eyes are now on state unit chief A Revanth Reddy, who was accompanied by Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar as he met the governor late in the evening. Having registered a virtually unassailable lead early on, the Grand Old Party won 64 seats while the BRS emerged victorious in 39. The BJP won eight seats, including the hotly contested Kamareddy constituency; the AIMIM managed to retain all its seven seats while CPI won the single seat it contested from.

After meeting the governor, Shivakumar said: “We have met the governor to claim the formation of the government with 65 members in this newly elected House and we have called a meeting of the newly elected MLAs tomorrow at 9.30 am. We have a procedure in the Congress party, we will follow that…”

The southern solace comes amid a saffron sweep of the Hindi heartland where the BJP wrested two states from its rival and retained one. Telangana becomes the second southern state in the Congress kitty in 2023, after it emerged triumphant in Karnataka in May.

In his address from the BJP headquarters in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the voters of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have shown their trust in the saffron party. He also took a veiled dig at the Congress win in Telangana saying: “Bharat Mata Ki… (sound should reach Telangana).”

Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao submitted his resignation to the governor following his party’s poor performance. Revanth Reddy, who led the Congress charge, finds himself on the brink of a shot at the top job. Both the heavyweights, however, were defeated by BJP’s KV Ramana Reddy in the Kamareddy constituency. The BRS supremo managed to save face with a win from Gajwel.

“I took both of them as normal candidates. People have supported me a lot and this is the reason I won from here… I have become the MLA from Kamareddy. I want to say that I am not just the MLA of 65,000 voters, but I am the MLA of 4 lakh people…” said KV Ramana Reddy after his win.

Revanth, meanwhile, met top police officials of the state and discussed the security arrangements for the swearing-in ceremony, likely on December 4 or 9. Earlier, the Election Commission sent a notice of suspension for Telangana DGP Anjani Kumar, who allegedly violated the model code by meeting the state Congress chief amid the counting of votes. Senior IPS officer Ravi Gupta has taken charge in his place.

The BRS expressed disappointment over its failure to ensure a hattrick. It had formed the first government of the newly carved out Telangana in 2014 and emerged victorious in 2018 as well. Party working president and KCR’s son KT Rama Rao, who won from Sircilla, said the assembly poll results were “disappointing” though he was not “saddened”.

“Grateful to the people of Telangana for giving BRS two consecutive terms of government. Not saddened over the result today, but surely disappointed as it was not in expected lines for us. But we will take this in our stride as a learning and will bounce back,” he said.

(With PTI inputs)