Telangana Election Results: Battle of nerves for BRS, BJP and Congress in three-cornered contest

In a few hours counting of votes for the Telangana Assembly elections will decide the fate of candidates from the ruling BRS, BJP and Congress in a three-cornered contest in the country’s youngest state.

Counting of votes for the Telangana Assembly elections will begin on Sunday to decide whether the “founding father” of the state Bharat Rashtra Samithi's K Chandrasekhar Rao will retain power for a third consecutive term or the reigns of the state will be wrested by the BJP or the Congress.

With the BRS banking on its social welfare programmes to retain power, the Congress is looking at repeating its electoral success in neighbouring Karnataka. The BJP, on the other hand, is hoping to make inroads into the state to expand its reach in South India.

In the 119-seat Telangana Assembly, the three parties will need to reach the magic number of 60 to form a government. In a pre-poll seat-sharing agreement, the BJP and Jana Sena contested on 111 and 8 seats, respectively while the Congress gave one seat to its ally CPI.

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Exit polls have given Congress the edge, predicting a victory on more than 60 seats with BRS taking the second place, winning over 40 seats and the BJP trailing behind, registering a win on only 7 seats.

The counting of votes for all five states that went to polls last month is set to begin at 8 am.

In the 2018 elections, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS -- now Bharat Rashtra Samithi) won by capturing 88 seats.  The Congress secured the second position with 19 seats, while the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) managed to win only two seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured one seat, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) claimed seven seats and independent candidates secured one seat.

The Telangana cabinet meeting is scheduled to be held on December 4, a day after the votes of the assembly elections are counted.

Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), his son and party working president KT Rama Rao (KTR), who is also the Minister for  IT of Telangana and  Telangana Congress chief A Revanth Reddy along with BJP Lok Sabha MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar are some of the candidates in the fray.