HYDERABAD: The TRS appears to be all set to create another record in the country by bagging over 100 civic bodies. Leaders are confident that the pink party will create a record in municipal polls too.
As the counting of votes for 120 municipalities and nine municipal corporations takes place on Saturday, the confidence among the leaders of the ruling party is that TRS will grab over 100 urban local bodies.
Since the formation of Telangana State in 2014, the TRS has won all the elections, Assembly, Lok Sabha, ZP and by-elections, by an overwhelming majority. If the TRS sweeps the municipal polls as well, which were held for the first time in the State, the pink party’s set of poll victories will be complete. In the recent Panchayat Raj polls, TRS bagged all the 32 zilla parishads, a clean sweep that no other party achieved in any State so far.
"The same trend will continue in the municipal polls too. We are going to capture over 100 municipalities and create another record in the country," a TRS leader said exuding confidence.On the other hand, the leaders of Congress and BJP believe that the results will reverse their earlier defeats.
Leaders from the two national parties say that there are keen contests at several places and they will undermine the dominance of the TRS. The moot question is: Will the results be on the lines of predictions made by the Opposition or will the TRS continue its victory march?
Currently the debate among the people is whether the TRS party will succeed in achieving a record victory in the civic polls as it did in every election held since the formation of Telangana or will it witness any decrease in its vote share?
Record unmatched
The pink party, however, is confident of creating a record in the municipal polls as it did in the election for the rural local bodies. "TRS won 100 per cent ZPs in 2019, the real local bodies elections for the ZPs and mandal parishads. The TRS has created a national record. The TRS won all the 32 zilla parishads. This is a feat which no one achieved in the past or in the present in the entire country. The Opposition parties like the Congress and BJP could not win even single a ZP," a senior TRS leader said. When the polls took place for 537 ZP Territory Constituencies, TRS clinched 448 seats (83.42 per cent).
Congress won just 75 seats (13.9 per cent) while the BJP a mere eight seats (0.14 per cent). In the elections for 5,817 Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC), TRS won 3,556 (61.13 per cent), Congress 1,377 (23. 67 per cent), BJP 211 (3.62 per cent). Of the total 537 mandal parishad president posts, TRS won 431, Congress 72 and BJP just six.
In 2016 Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections too, the TRS registered a thumping victory, winning 99 out of 150 Wards while its alliance partner AIMIM won 44, while the Congress won two, BJP four and TDP just one ward. In the annals of the GHMC history, for the first time one political party won so many wards and was able to have Mayor’s post on its own without any support from other parties.
Impressive tally
In the Assembly polls that took place in December, 2018, the TRS won 46.87 per cent of votes and secured 88 of 119 seats. Congress had polled 28.43 per cent of votes and won 19 seats while the BJP had to satisfy with just 6.98 per cent of votes and one seat. The AIMIM got 2.71 per cent of votes and won seven seats. The TRS roared back to power with an impressive tally.
In 2019 Parliament elections, while the entire country witnessed Narendra Modi’s wave and the BJP’s influence, in Telangana the pink party showed its dominance. In the 17 Lok Sabha seats in the State, TRS got 41.71 per cent votes and won nine seats. Congress received 29.79 per cent votes and won three seats while the BJP polled 19.65 per cent votes and secured four seats. The AIMIM with 2.8 per cent votes won a single seat.