Telangana State has 17 parliament constituencies. The three major parties contesting the Lok Sabha Polls 2024 are Congress, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Although All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) led by Asaduddin Owaisi too is in the race, the party is contesting only for Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat.
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Majority of the seats in the State in the two previous General elections were won by Telangana Rashtra Samithi (Now BRS). However, the political landscape changed after the Telangana Assembly Elections-2023 in December. Congress claimed power in the State. This has boosted the party’s confidence. Gradually, several leaders from BRS joined Congress or Bharatiya Janata Party.
Lok Sabha Election Results 2024
Congress party launched welfare schemes such as free bus rides for women, gas cylinders for ₹500, free power up to 200 units for those Below Poverty Line. Despite the recent victory and four-months of being in power in the State, BJP gave a tough fight to Congress.
National leaders from the two parties campaigned here in the run up to the polls; Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah campaigned for the BJP candidates and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi canvassed for the party’s contestants.
Exit Polls indicated that BJP might win a record number of seats in the State.Leaders of the three major parties expressed confidence to win the majority of the seats.
In the Hyderabad constituency, the BJP fielded Kompella Madhavi Latha, a classical dancer and entrepreneur, against sitting MP and AIMIM head Asaduddin Owaisi. This constituency is predominantly Muslim-populated and has always been a stronghold of the AIMIM. Mr. Owaisi has held the seat for four terms since 2004, succeeding his father, Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, who represented the city in the Lok Sabha for six consecutive terms between 1984 and 2004. The BJP has fielded sitting MP G. Kishan Reddy as its candidate in Secunderabad, seeking a third consecutive term against BRS’s T Padma Rao Goud and Congress’ Danam Nagender.
General Election 2024: full schedule
In Nizamabad, the BJP leader Dharmapuri Arvind was fielded against BRS leader Bajireddy Goverdhan and Congress’ T Jeevan Reddy. While in Karimnagar, former BJP state president and incumbent MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar contested against BRS’s B Vinod Kumar and INC’s Velichala Rajender Rao. Mr. Sanjay Kumar is aiming for his second consecutive win from the Karimnagar seat in the 2024 elections. The Zahirabad constituency witnessed a contest between BJP’s B. B. Patil, BRS’s Gali Anil Kumar, and Congress’ Suresh Kumar Shetkar. Mr. Patil, who won the Zahirabad constituency in the previous two general elections on a BRS ticket, joined the BJP early this year.
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Eatela Rajender, contested from Malkajgiri constituency on the BJP ticket, was a former Minister in the K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) Cabinet. He switched over to the BJP following differences with the BRS. The Congress fielded Patnam Sunitha Reddy, who joined the Congress just before the 2024 general election. BRS fielded Ragdi Laxma Reddy. Congress seems confident in Telangana after winning the 2023 Assembly election, but the flaw is that it fails to include the Backward Classes in ticket allocation. The Congress’s strengths include its current hold in the state and the successful implementation of welfare schemes like the Mahalakshmi scheme for free bus travel for women, petrol subsidies, Rythubarosa, and Gruhajyoti for free electricity. Madhavi Latha, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate in Hyderabad, created outrage after a video leaked of her checking voter ID cards at a polling booth. In the video, Latha is seen asking Muslim women to remove their Burkhas, verify their identities, and check their voter IDs.
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