Will Congress stop TRS juggernaut in RLB polls?

Hyderabad: In the elections held to the Zilla Parishads and Mandal Praja Parishads in 2014, the Congress had won majority of the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies whereas the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had won majority of the Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies.

In these elections that were held before the formation of Telangana State on June 2, 2014, the Congress and the TRS demonstrated their strengths. The Congress clinched majority of the Mandal Parishad Presidents and the TRS bagged several Zilla Parishad chairperson posts.

The TRS won seven out of nine Zilla Parishads in 2014. It had won Adilabad, Mahbubnagar, Medak, Warangal, Ranga Reddy, Nizamabad and Karimnagar by winning 42 per cent of the Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC).

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had won Khammam Zilla Parishad and the Congress had won the Nalgonda ZP. Before the reorganisation of Zilla Parishads and Mandal Parishads in the State there were 441 ZPTCs. The number has gone up to 535 with the creation 23 new rural districts. The number of Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies has come down from 6,473 to 5,857 due to the merger of 170 villages into nearby municipalities.

Out of the 6,417 MPTC posts, the Congress had won about 2,347, TRS won 1,869 and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had won 1,057. The Congress MPTCs have been elected as presidents of Mandal Parishads in majority of the mandals. However, situation has drastically changed since 2014 ZP and MPP elections as in the coming elections the Congress and the TRS would have a direct fight. Telugu Desam Party, YSR Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which have made substantial gains in the previous polls may not show much impact.

The TRS wants to demonstrate their strength again in the local body elections by bagging all the Zilla Parishad chairperson posts and majority of the Mandal Parishad chairperson posts. With more than 47 per cent of the votes, the TRS may win majority of the rural local bodies. The beleaguered Congress is struggling to stop the juggernaut of the TRS by winning few Zilla Parishad and Mandal Parishad chairperson posts in next elections.

The recovery for the party in the MLC and Gram Panchayat elections has given some breath to the party to put up some fight. However, with the co-option facility, wherein the MLAs, MLCs and MPs could become co-option members and can cast their vote in the elections of ZPs and MPPs chairperson posts, the chances of winning them for the Congress are much thin. The TRS has more than 100 MLA seats and about 38 MLC seats in hand.