Telangana Assembly Election Results: TRS takes big lead, KCR set for second term as CM

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is all set to form its second successive government in the state. TRS has a clear majority after taking a lead in 90 seats, according to the official Election Commission of India trends. Voting for the 119 seats in the state was held on December 7 and saw a voter turnout of 73.20 per cent.

TRS Chief K Chandrasekhar Rao has won by 51,515 votes in Gajwel seat over his nearest Congress rival Vanteru Pratap Reddy after the final counting.

The Assembly election in Telangana was to be held in the middle of 2019, but Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrashekar Rao's (KCR), dissolved the state assembly prematurely, pushing elections before schedule.

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"The people reposed faith in the leadership of our chief minister and they did not believe in the disinformation campaign of the opposition," said T Harish Rao, a minister in the outgoing government and a nephew of Rao.

The Congress said it suspected "manipulation" of the Electronic Voting Machines, and demanded that all votes be counted using the VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) to ascertain the exact number of votes polled by each candidate.

State Congress chief GN Reddy, on the other hand, dropped hint about another alliance with Owaisi's AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) party, saying "If the TRS goes with BJP, AIMIM can sail with us if they want to." 

CPI general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy alleged that: "Huge distribution of money, particularly on the last day and purchasing the votes must have resulted in this victory for TRS."

Senior TDP leader Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy said the factors leading to this result need to be analysed. "We were expecting to get more seats. The results are not to our expectations. we have to analyse and introspect where it went wrong, and we have to work together," news agency PTI quoted Reddy as saying.