Three-way fight between TRS, Cong and TDP-BJP for would-be state's 119 assembly seats too close to call
More than 2.8 crore voters in Telangana will today decide the fate of K Chandrasekhar Rao — the face of the Telangana statehood movement — and his party in a poll that will give the would-be state its first government. Simultaneous elections to the assembly and the Lok Sabha will be held in Andhra Pradesh's Telangana region, which will become a state on June 2.
Over 1,660 candidates are contesting for 119 assembly seats in the region, while 265 candidates are in the fray for 17 parliamentary constituencies. This is the first time Rao's 13-year-old party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), is contesting all seats on its own. In 2004 general elections, it had tied up with the Congress, while in 2009 polls, it joined hands with the Telugu Desam Party.
Rao, or KCR as he is more commonly known, is fighting the Lok Sabha election from Medak and the assembly one from Gajwel in Medak district. Though he is expected to comfortably win the parliamentary seat, he is facing a tough contest in Gajwel against Telugu Desam's K Prathap Reddy, a small-time borewell driller.
Reddy has worked hard to establish a connect with the constituency's 2.1 lakh electors, whereas KCR, the would-be chief minister of Telangana, is contesting the assembly polls after 10 years. Opinion polls show the two neck and neck.
The TRS itself is under pressure from the TDP-BJP combine and the Congress in many constituencies of Telangana. It is strong in North Telangana districts, but is trailing in four South Telangana ones. KCR was the most prominent figure in the movement to seek statehood for Telangana, but the 60-year-old has come under increasing criticism from his opponents, who say he only believes in hogging the limelight and furthering political interests of his family members. Both the TDP and the Congress have called TRS as a "family party of extortionists".
On campaign trail, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has repeatedly accused the TRS president of extorting money from industrialists in the name of the Telangana movement. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, who had earlier backed KCR, have called him an "opportunist" after he rejected proposals to merge TRS with the Congress.
Despite a tight three-way race, KCR is confident of forming Telangana's first government. He has toured extensively in the 10 districts of Telangana. Political analysts say there is little scope for a clear mandate and predict a fractured verdict. Andhra Pradesh is currently under the president's rule. Elections to 175 assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in Seemandhra, or the residuary state of AP, will be held on May 7.
POLLS ENTER PHASE 7
89 seats
13.83 crore voters
Eighty-nine Lok Sabha constituencies spread over seven states and two Union Territories will go to polls today. These include all 26 seats in Gujarat and all 13 in Punjab; 17 seats in Andhra Pradesh, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, nine in WB, seven in Bihar and one each in J&K and Union Territories of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.
Wednesday's polls will decide the fate of heavyweights: Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli), Ambika Soni (Anandpur Sahib), Narendra Modi (Vadodara), L K Advani (Gandhinagar), Farooq Abdullah (Srinagar), Murli Manohar Joshi (Kanpur), Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), Arun Jaitley (Amritsar).
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