TRS dashes Congress hopes in Warangal

Warangal: A day after comprehensively winning the Legislative Council seat of Warangal Local Authorities' Constituency, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) asserted its supremacy in the Parishad polls as well, thus proving erstwhile Warangal district, the epicentre of Telangana Movement, as its backyard.

As soon as the counting of votes for Zilla Parishad and Mandal Parishad elections was taken up on Tuesday morning, the voters' pulse in favour of TRS was crystal clear leaving Congress candidates and cadres, who have been hoping for reversal of fortune, in disappointment.

What the Congress had been expecting was trend reversal especially since the ruling TRS suffered a setback in the elections to three Council seats in March and followed by its unimpressive performance in the Lok Sabha elections.

But it wasn't to be in the Parishad polls with the TRS winning 62 ZPTC seats out of a total 70 in the erstwhile Warangal district. While the Congress had managed to win seven ZPTC seats, one seat went to independent.

The TRS' dominance continued in the MPTC elections also as it won 541 seats as against Congress' 185. Compared to its ZPTC seat tally, the Congress fared well in the MPTC elections.

With the massive mandate it got, the TRS is well set to wrest all six Zilla Parishads – Warangal Urban, Rural, Jangaon, Mahabubabad, Mulugu and Jayashankar-Bhupalpally.

On the other hand, the TRS has a clear mandate to seize 57 Mandal Praja Parishads (MPPs) while the Congress is likely to win nine. The fate of four other MPPs is hanging in the balance. It may be noted here that election to MPP presidents and vice-presidents will be held on June 7. The indirect elections to the ZP chairpersons and vice-chairpersons are scheduled on June 8.

It may be mentioned here that although the original counting was scheduled on May 27, the Telangana State Election Commission had deferred it following objections raised by the Opposition parties that 40-day gap between the counting of votes and indirect elections to the ZP and MPP posts could lead to horse trading.

The elections for 70 ZPTCs and 780 MPTCs were held in three phases on May 6, 10 and 14 in erstwhile Warangal district.