Did TDP's pullout help Cong's historic Telangana sweep?

A slim two percent shift in votes toward the Congress led to K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi losing power to the grand old party in the assembly polls.

According to the Election Commission's data, the Congress secured victory by claiming 64 seats in the 119-member assembly, attaining a 39.40 percent vote share, surpassing BRS, which won 39 segments with a 37.35 percent vote share.

The BRS witnessed a drop in its vote share by over 10 percent, declining from 47 percent in the 2018 assembly elections, while the Congress gained slightly more than what the BRS lost, amounting to an 11 percent increase.

In 2018, the BRS secured a significant 88 seats, whereas the Congress managed to win only 19 segments, garnering 28.4 percent of the votes.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, initially emerging as a primary challenger to the BRS after winning a few by-polls and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, ultimately doubled its vote share and improved its tally to eight seats.

In the 2018 polls, the saffron party secured just one seat with a seven percent vote share.

Krishna Sagar Rao, BJP's chief spokesperson, stated that the party believed it gained votes and seats due to its promises of appointing a BC leader as Chief Minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to forming a committee on SC categorisation.

The BJP leader expressed the opinion that Congress could have gained more if there hadn't been an aggressive campaign by the BJP on these two issues.

Political analyst and senior journalist Telakapalli Ravi noted that the BJP successfully diverted the vote share of BRS in its favor.

According to some observers, the Congress gained ground by attracting votes from Telugu Desam Party sympathisers after the TDP opted out of the race due to its own reasons.

The TDP secured 3.5 percent of the votes and two seats in the 2018 assembly elections.

The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen party led by Asaduddin Owaisi retained its seat tally while almost maintaining its vote share.

The Hyderabad-centric party secured seven seats, obtaining 2.22 percent of the votes compared to 2.7 percent in 2018.

The elections for the Telangana assembly were conducted on November 30, and the vote counting was done on December 3.