With polling coming to an end for the Assembly elections in Telangana on Friday, both the ruling TRS and the main opposition Congress were confident of a victory.
While the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) exuded confidence of retaining the power, Congress was sure that the People’s Front led by it will form the next government.
TRS leader K.T. Rama Rao said the party would win two-thirds majority in the 119-member Assembly.
After voting in Siddipet district, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao exuded confidence that the TRS would win the polls with a huge majority.
Congress party’s Telangana unit President Uttam Kumar Reddy, however, remained confident that the alliance would come to power. He told reporters that the alliance would win 85 seats.
Congress Working President Revanth Reddy claimed that the people had given a mandate in favour of the People’s Front.
About 70 percent of 2.8 crore voters voted in the single-phase polling on Friday. Vote count will take place on December 11.
Lagadapati opened Pandora’s box by reporting his predictions on Telangana elections as his report is completely contradictory to the all other exit polls. While most of the exit poll surveys predicted win of TRS, Lagadapati predicted Praka kootami to get most number of the seats in the elections.
Lagadapati predictions are as follows:
Praja kootami: 65 +/- 10 i.e. 55-75
TRS: 35 +/- 10 i.e. 25-45
TDP: 7+/-2 i.e. 5-9
BJP: 7+/-2 i.e. 5-9
MIM: 6-7
CPM: 1
Will Andhra Octopus hit the bull’s eye this time too?
Lagadapati was very consistent in predicting election results very accurately. In 2005, during Karimnagar and Bobbili by-elections, Lagadapati predicted results very accurately and that brought him instant fame. In 2009, he predicted 155 seats for Congress and it won 156 seats. In 2012 by-elections, he predicted 12 to 16 seats for YSR Congress party, 1-3 seats for Congress Party and 0-2 seats for TDP. Later YSR Congress party won in 15 seats Congress won in 2 seats. So his prediction turned true. He also predicted that TRS would win parakala assembly seat and that also was very accurate. In 2014 also, Lagadapati predicted the winning of TDP almost 5 weeks ahead of elections. In 2014 general elections, even most of the national media failed to predict BJP alone passing the majic number of 272 even though they predicted NDA would form the government. But Lagadapati predicted that and people were surprised to see such prediction at that time. In Uttar Pradesh assembly elections also Lagadapati was able to predict almost very accurate. Infact nobody believed Lagadapati survey results when he announced Uttar Pradesh predictions. But finally after the result, people were surprised to see the accuracy of his predictions.
Instances when Lagadapati failed:
But Lagadapati was also not accurate 100% of times. His predictions on BJP forming government in Karnataka gone wrong. Also Lagadapati predictions on Karunanidhi’s DMK forming government in Tamil Nadu also gone wrong. However, there is always some difference between surveys Lagadapati directly revealed in front of the camera and the surveys published by media houses citing it is done by Lagadapati. But except this couple of instances, Lagadapati was almost always very accurate. At the same time, we need to remember, Lagadapati had his own failures too.
Why this report of Lagadapati is very different?
Moreover this time Lagadapati gave a huge margin i.e. Praja kootami will win 55-75 seats. Such huge margin of 20 seats is ridiculous. Moreover the lower cut-off he gave to TRS is 25 seats (25-45 seats for TRS) which is also very ridiculous.
Overall:
But one thing also needs to be observed here that, all the earlier predictions of Lagadapati were more or less in sync with other exit polls and other surveys , even though it varied only to a certain degree. But this time it has become like Lagadapati Vs others as it is only Lagadapati who is predicting such a victory for Praja kootami while all others are predicting TRS victory.
we will have to wait and see if Lagadapati will succeed again or he will prove AGAIN that he is poor at understanding the “emotion” of Telangana people like he did during Telangana movement.
About 70 percent of 2.8 voters votes in the Telangana Assembly election on Friday as the polling ended on a peaceful note, barring minor incidents.
Polling ended in 106 constituencies at 5 p.m. but those standing in queues were allowed to cast their votes. The exact poll percentage will be known after receipt of detailed reports from the districts, officials said in Hyderabad.
Some 56.17 per cent voters had voted by 3 p.m.
Polling ended in 13 constituencies affected by Maoist violence at 4 p.m,
This is the first full-fledged election in India’s youngest election. In the 2014 elections held in united Andhra Pradesh, Telangana had registered a voter turnout of 68.9 percent.
The polling, which began on a dull note at 7 a.m., picked up after 9. Long queues of voters including women were seen especially in rural areas.
Chief Electoral Officer Rajath Kumar said barring sporadic incidents, the polling was peaceful and smooth in all 32,815 polling stations across 31 districts.
In some polling centres, the process started late due to technical glitches in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
Of the total electorate, nearly half are women. There were 1,821 candidates, including Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and his 14 cabinet colleagues.
Congress candidate Vamshichand Reddy was injured in stone pelting by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Nagarkurnool district. He was admitted to a hospital.
Tension prevailed in Kodangal constituency where the midnight arrest of Congress Working Ptesident Revanth Reddy on December 4 had triggered a huge row, leading to transfer of Vikarabad District Superintendent of Police by the Election Commission.
Voters at several places complained that their names were missing from the voters’ list. Some voters staged protests after officials did not allow them to exercise their franchise in the absence of voter slips.
Prominent people whose names were missing from the voter’s list include family members of Finance Minister E. Rajender. Shuttler Jwala Gutta tweeted that her name was missing from the list.
Many celebrities including superstar Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Junior NTR, tennis star Sania Mirza and ace shuttler P.V. Sindhu voted but this failed to enthuse the voters as overall turnout remained less than 40 per cent by 3 p.m.
Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) President cast his vote in his village in Siddipet district and exuded confidence that his party will retain power with a huge majority.
Over 50,000 security personnel, including 18,860 from neighbouring states and central forces, were deployed as part of the security arrangements.
Over 1.50 lakh polling personnel were on duty to conduct the polling process. As many as 55,329 EVMs and 39,763 control units were in use.
For the first time, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) were installed across the state.
Counting of votes will be taken up on December 11.
It is expected to be a close contest between the ruling TRS, which contested all seats on its own, and the Congress-led People’s Front that includes Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Communist Party of India and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS).
The BJP was the third key force in some constituencies. The Bahujan Left Front led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) also contested majority of the seats.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) contested eight seats in Hyderabad.
The TRS opted for dissolution of the Assembly in September, eight months before its term was to end.
Telangana’s 2.8 crore voters cast their ballot on Friday in the advanced assembly elections in the state, where the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government is trying to retain power against a Congress-led four-party alliance with the BJP seeking to make it a triangular contest.
The TRS led by caretaker chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) dissolved the assembly about eight months ahead of schedule in the hope of taking the opposition parties by surprise but the Congress threw its own surprise by coming up with its alliance, in which it also roped in its one-time foe, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Telugu360 got access to exit polls done by various media agencies. Here are the results.
Media/Agency
No of Seats TRS
Praja Kootami
TV9
57
NTV
58
AP govt intelligence
55
TG intelligence report
80
Cvoter
60
Times now
66
36
Republic TV
50 -65
38-52
News18
50-65
38-52
India today
79-91
** Media agencies are still tabulating information coming from few more locations. So final result might change little.
With hundreds of people from Hyderabad heading to their native places to cast their votes in the Telangana Assembly elections on Friday, the state government decided to exempt them from toll tax.
Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi issued orders to this effect following a request from Chief Electoral Officer Rajath Kumar.
The poll official told reporters that in view of the reports of long traffic jams at toll plazas, he requested the Chief Secretary to waive the toll tax to enable people to reach their villages faster.
A large number of people from Hyderabad have been leaving for various districts across the state since Thursday. The railway stations and bus stations were also crowded with the people leaving for their destinations.
Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) was operating additional bus services to clear the rush.
17:20 కేసీఆర్ నాయకత్వాన్ని ప్రజలు అంగీకరించడం లేదనేది స్పష్టమౌతుందన్నారు పీసీసీ అధ్యక్షుడు ఉత్తమ్ కుమార్ రెడ్డి. ఓటింగ్ జరిగిన విధానం విశ్లేషిస్తే అది స్పష్టంగా కనిపిస్తోందన్నారు. ప్రజా కూటమికి 80 నుంచి 85 సీట్లు రావడం చాలా స్పష్టం అన్నారు. తెలంగాణలో తమ ప్రభుత్వం ఏర్పడుతుందని ధీమా వ్యక్తం చేశారు.
16:30
ఉదయం 7 గంటల నుంచే పోలింగ్ కేంద్రాల దగ్గర ప్రజలు బారులు తీరారు. కానీ, చాలాచోట్ల ఈవీఎమ్ లు మొరాయించడంతో దాదాపు ఓ గంట ఆలస్యంగా ఓటింగ్ ప్రారంభమైన ప్రాంతాలు ఉన్నాయి. మధ్యాహ్నం భోజన సమయం వరకూ రాష్ట్రవ్యాప్తంగా పోలింగ్ బాగానే సాగింది. కానీ, మధ్యాహ్నం తరువాత మందగించింది. ఉదయం పరిస్థితి చూస్తే పెద్ద మొత్తంలో ఓట్లు నమోదయ్యే అవకాశం ఉందని అందరూ భావించారు. గ్రామీణ ప్రాంతాల్లో ఓటింగ్ భారీగానే ఉన్నా, పట్టణ ప్రాంతాలకు వచ్చేసరికి నమోదు శాతం తగ్గింది. హైదరాబాద్ లో 53 శాతం మాత్రమే పోలింగ్ నమోదైంది.
16:00
తెలంగాణలో ముగిసిన అసెంబ్లీ ఎన్నికలు. సాయంత్రం 4.గం. 45 ని. వరకూ 68.5 శాతంగా పోలింగ్ నమోదైంది. అయితే, ఇంకా కొన్ని పోలింగ్ కేంద్రాల్లో ఓటింగ్ కొనసాగుతోంది.
15:22 బావ హరీష్ రావుకి కంగ్రాట్స్ చెప్పారు కేటీఆర్. సిద్ధిపేట నియోజక వర్గంలో పోలింగ్ సరళిని హరీష్ రావు పరిశీలించారు. ఈ క్రమంలో కొన్ని గ్రామాల్లో ఆయన పర్యటించారు. హైదరాబాద్ నుంచి సిరిసిల్ల వెళ్తున్న కేటీఆర్, గుర్రాలగొంది దగ్గర బావ హరీష్ రావుకి ఎదురుపడ్డారు. ఈ సందర్భంగా ఇద్దరూ ఆత్మీయంగా పలకరించి మాట్లాడుకున్నారు. ‘బావా కంగ్రాట్స్… లక్ష మెజారిటీ ఖాయం. నీ మెజారిటీలో సగమైనా తెచ్చుకుంటా’ అంటూ హరీష్ తో కేటీఆర్ చెప్పారు.
14:30 నిజామాబాద్ ఎమ్మార్వో కార్యాలయం ఎదుట కొంతమంది ప్రజలు ధర్నాకి దిగారు. తమ పేర్లు గల్లంతు అయ్యాయనీ, ఓటు వేసే అవకాశం కల్పిస్తే తప్ప ఇక్కడి నుంచి కదిలే పరిస్థితి లేదంటున్నారు. ఓటరు ఐడీ ఉండి కూడా ఓటెయ్యకపోతే తాము బతికి లేనట్టే అంటూ కొందరు ఓటర్లు ఆవేదన వ్యక్తం చేస్తున్నారు. జాబితాలో పేర్లు లేని తమకు ప్రత్యేకంగా పోలింగ్ ఏర్పాటు చేసి, హక్కు వినియోగించుకునే అవకాశం కల్పించాలంటూ ఆందోళన చేస్తున్నారు. దీనిపై అధికారులు వెంటనే స్పందించాలంటున్నారు.
14:16 రాష్ట్రవ్యాప్తంగా ఇప్పటివరకూ 48.33 శాతం పోలింగ్ నమోదు అయింది. ఉదయం మందకొడిగా ఓటింగ్ మొదలైనా, మధ్యాహ్నం నుంచి ఊపందుకుంది. సాయంత్రం ఐదు వరకూ ఓటింగ్ ప్రక్రియ జరుగుతుంది.
అర్బన్ ప్రాంతాల్లో 60 నుంచి 70 శాతం పోలింగ్ మించడం లేదనీ, గ్రామీణ ప్రాంతాలతో సమానంగా అర్బన్ ఓటర్లు కూడా ఓటెయ్యాలని కోరారు కాంగ్రెస్ నేత కోమటిరెడ్డి వెంకటరెడ్డి. పట్టణాల్లో ఉన్న విజ్ఞులైన ప్రజలంతా ముందుకు రావాలన్నారు. తెలంగాణ అభివృద్ధి చెందాలంటే మేథావులంతా ఓటింగ్ లో పాల్గొనాలన్నారు.
14:00 తన జీవితంలో తొలిసారిగా ఓటు హక్కును వినియోగించుకున్నారు ప్రజా గాయకుడు గద్దర్. బి.ఆర్. అంబేద్కర్ ఫొటో పట్టుకుని ఆయన ఓటెయ్యడానికి వచ్చారు. 70 ఏళ్ల గద్దర్ ఇంతవరకూ ఏ ఎన్నికల్లోనూ ఓటు వెయ్యలేదు. బ్యాంకు ఉద్యోగిగా కొద్దిరోజులు పనిచేసి, ఆ తరువాత మావోయిస్టు పార్టీలో చేరిన గద్దర్.. తాజా ఎన్నికల్లో కూటమి తరఫున ప్రచారం చేసిన సంగతి తెలిసిందే.
12:43 Superstar Mahesh Babu and actor Rana utilized voting right
CM KCR voted and hoped their party will have better prospects
MP Kavitha utilized voting right at Nizamabad
Voters turn up in huge numbers at Kodangal. Expected to cross last time voting percentage this time at Kodangal
Vijayashanti utilized vote in Hydeabad and asked people to vote for a good party
11:31 Shock to Gutta Jwala as her name not found in voter list. She left the polling booth with disappointment
Manchu Lakshmi voted. Called everyone to utilize voting right.
11:30 Shock to Raghavendra Rao. Voters took objection at him as he tried to vote without standing in the long queue. He left the booth without voting
11:26 Super star Krishna, Vijay Nirmala and Naresh cast their vote
Called everyone to vote
11:24 కల్వకుర్తి కాంగ్రెస్ అభ్యర్థి వంశీచంద్ రెడ్డిపై బీజేపీ కార్యకర్తల దాడి. అమనగల్ మండలం జంగారెడ్డిపల్లి గ్రామంలో ఏర్పాటుచేసిన పోలింగ్ బూత్ వద్ద ఇరు పార్టీల మధ్య రగడ జరిగింది. ఈ సమాచారం తెలిసి కల్వకుర్తి కాంగ్రెస్ అభ్యర్థి వంశీచంద్రెడ్డి అక్కడకు చేరుకోగా ఆయనపై కూడా బీజేపీ కార్యకర్తలు దాడికి పాల్పడడంతో గాయాలయ్యాయి. ఆయనను ఆస్పత్రికి తరలించారు. ఈ దాడిని ఖండించిన ఉత్తమ్ కుమార్ రెడ్డి
11:13 By 11 am, voting percentage is 21.7%
09:50 మా అక్క గెలవాలని కోరుకుంటున్నా అన్నారు ఎన్టీఆర్. రాజ్యాంగం మనకు కల్పించిన హక్కు ఓటు అనీ, అందరూ వినియోగించుకోవాలన్నారు జూనియర్ ఎన్టీఆర్. ఓటు వినియోగించుకోకపోతే… ఫిర్యాదు చేసే హక్కు లేదన్నారు.
ఇంట్లో కూర్చుని టీవీ చూడ్డానికీ, పక్కింట్లో టైమ్ పాస్ చెయ్యడానికి సెలవు ఇవ్వలేదనీ, ప్రజలంతా దయచేసి ఓటు హక్కు వినియోగించుకోవాలన్నారు ఎమ్.ఐ.ఎమ్. నేత అక్బరుద్దీన్ ఒవైసీ. ఓటు వెయ్యకుండా నాయకుల్ని విమర్శించే హక్కు ఎవరికీ ఉండదన్నారు. తమకు అన్ని చోట్ల నుంచి సానుకూల స్పందన వస్తోందన్నారు. ఐదేళ్లకు ఒకసారి వచ్చే ఓటేసే అవకాశాన్ని అందరూ వినియోగించుకున్నారు. జుమా ఉందీ, ఇవాళ్ల అమావాస్య ఉందీ… అయినా అందరూ ఓటెయ్యాలన్నారు.
09:35
Nandamuri Suhasini utilized voting right at Mehdipatnam polling booth.
NTR and his family in queue line and fans trying to shake hand with him. Selfies not allowed at polling booth as per EC rules
09:24
రాష్ట్రవ్యాప్తంగా ఇప్పటికీ 229 కేంద్రాల్లో మొరాయిస్తున్న ఈవీఎమ్ లు. పోలింగ్ ప్రక్రియ సక్రమంగా ముందుకు సాగని పరిస్థితి. 20 కేంద్రాల్లో ఇప్పటికీ ఓటింగ్ ప్రారంభమే కాలేదు. వేసిన ఓటును ఎనిమిది సెకెన్లపాటు వీవీ ప్యాట్ లో డిస్ప్లే కావాల్సి ఉంది. కానీ, చాలాచోట్ల నిమిషాల కొద్దీ ఆలస్యం జరుగుతూ ఉండటంతో… క్యూలైన్లలో ఉన్న ఓటర్లు కొంత అసంతృప్తికి గురౌతున్నారు.
09:20
Every single vote is the path you lay towards your future. Please go and exercise your right! #Votingisyourright
Posani complains: Posani utilized vote this morning in Hyderabad. However, he told, there is no light in the room and so it was difficult to identify election symbols in EVMs.
09:15
PV Sindhu and Pullela Gopichand utilized their voting right. Gopichand showed his inked finger to media and Sindhu showed her voter card to media.
09:13
ప్రజాకూటమిని ప్రజలు ఆదరిస్తున్నారు అన్నారు నామా నాగేశ్వరరావు. ఏ బూత్ కి వెళ్లినా తమను ఆశీర్వదిస్తున్న స్పందన కనిపిస్తోందన్నారు. సాధించుకున్న తెలంగాణలో గడచిన నాలుగున్నరేళ్లుగా ప్రజలు ఇబ్బందులు పాలయ్యారనీ, అందుకనే ప్రజా కూటమి గాలి రాష్ట్రవ్యాప్తంగా బలంగా వీస్తోందనీ, కూటమి అధికారంలోకి రావడం ఖాయమన్నారు. ఖమ్మం జిల్లాలో అన్ని స్థానాలు తాము గెలుస్తామన్న నమ్మకం ఉందన్నారు.
09:10
గవర్నర్ నర్సింహన్ దంపతులు ఓటు హక్కు వినియోగించుకున్నారు. అనంతరం మీడియాతో గవర్నర్ మాట్లాడుతూ… ఈరోజు అందరి బాధ్యత ఓటు వేయడమనీ, మరో మూడు రోజులు సెలవులు ఉన్నాయి కాబట్టి.. ఇవాళ్ల ఒక్క గంట ఇక్కడికి రండి అన్నారు.
You have no right to complaint if you don’t vote : Nagarjuna
Akkineni Nagarjuna and his wife Amala use their voting right this morning at a polling both in jubilee hills. After requesting court he spoke to media and called people to utilize their voting right.
After casting vote, Nagarjuna spoke to media. He told, ” This is the time to vote for our leaders and this is the day of voters. It is very irresponsible if one doesn’t come and vote. It is also not correct on the part of some youngsters who say, we don’t believe in politics and we don’t want to vote. If you don’t vote you will not have any right to complain. You should come out and vote.
Also director Rajamauli and Allu Arjun utilized their vote this morning.
తెలంగాణ వ్యాప్తంగా తొలి గంటలో దాదాపుగా ఏడు శాతం పోలింగ్ నమోదు, తొలి గంటలోనే ఓటేసిన పలువురు ప్రముఖులు
ఓటు హక్కు వినియోగించుకున్న చిరంజీవి, నాగార్జున , కీరవాణి
పలు చోట్ల ఈవీఎంలలలో సాంకేతిక సమస్యలు , ఎప్పటికప్పుడు సరి చేస్తున్న సాంకేతిక సిబ్బంది, ప్రతి పోలింగ్ బూత్లోనూ వెబ్ కాస్టింగ్
Appealing to the citizens of Telangana to exercise their right to vote today. Remember that every vote counts and will make a difference. #TelanganaElections
ఇవాళ ఎన్నికల రోజు! తెలంగాణలో ఉన్న నా సోదర సోదరీమణులందరూ పెద్ద సంఖ్యలో వచ్చి ఓటు వెయ్యమని కోరుతున్నాను…. ప్రత్యేకించి నా యువ మిత్రులందరూ తమ ఓటు హక్కును వినియోగించుకొని ప్రజాస్వామ్యాన్ని మరింత సుసంపన్నం చేయమని ప్రార్థిస్తున్నాను…
Polling began in Telangana at 7 a.m. on Friday amid tight security to elect a new Assembly.
The polling will be held from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. in 106 constituencies, while in 13 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected constituencies, the polling will conclude at 4 p.m.
Around 2.8 crore voters will decide the fate of 1,821 candidates in the first election after Telangana was formed.
The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is facing a resurgent Congress-led People’s Front in its bid for a second term.
The TRS government dissolved the Assembly about eight months ahead of the schedule in the hope of taking the Opposition parties by surprise but the Congress threw a surprise by coming up with an alliance in a bid to oust the ruling party.
For the 119-member Telangana assembly where the Congress has tied up with rivals TDP, CPI and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), a new party floated by M. Kodandaram, who was once Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s friend in the Telangana movement.
Telangana has 51,796 polling stations, an increase of 14.25 per cent over the previous election in 2013.
Over 2.8 crore people are eligible to vote in Telangana which will elect a new Assembly on Friday.
Political fortunes of 1,821 candidates will be decided in 119 constituencies in the first full-fledged election in India’s youngest state.
Election authorities have made elaborate arrangements for a smooth conduct of the polling process in 32,815 polling stations.
A total of 280,747,22 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. They include 1,41,56,182 men and 1,39,05,811 women. The electorate also include 10,038 service voters and 249 overseas Indian electors.
Serilingampalli constituency in Greater Hyderabad has over 5.75 lakh voters, the highest in the state, while Bhadrachalam in Khammam district has least voters – 1.37 lakh.
According to Telangana’s Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar, polling will be held from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. in 106 constituencies while in 13 Left Wing Extremism affected constituencies polling will conclude at 4 p.m.
Over 50,000 security personnel including 18,860 drafted from neighbouring states and central forces were deployed as part of the massive security arrangements.
As the Communist Party of India-Maoist has given a call for boycott of elections, the police heightened the vigil in areas bordering Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
Over 1.50 lakh polling personnel were on duty to conduct the polling process. As many as 55,329 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and 39,763 control units will be used.
For the first time, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) were being installed across the state. After a voter casts his vote on EVM, VVPAT attached to the machine will display for seven seconds the choice made by the voter.
The elections are expected to be a close contest between the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which is contesting all seats on its own, and the Congress-led People’s Front.
The opposition alliance also includes Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Communist Party of India and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS).
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is contesting all seats on its own, is the third force in some constituencies.
The Bahujan Left Front (BLD) led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are also contesting a majority of the seats.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is contesting eight seats in Hyderabad.
TRS had opted for dissolution of Assembly in September, eight months before its term was to end.
Due to the presence of independents and TRS and Congress rebels in some segments, the contest has become multi-cornered.
Officials said they were keeping a close watch to stop distribution of cash, liquor or gifts among people by political parties or candidates.
Over Rs.110 crore cash and over 5 lakh litres of liquor seized across the state over last one month.
Liquor shops across the state were shut down on Wednesday evening when campaigning ended. They will reopen only after completion of polling. Orders prohibiting bulk SMSs of political nature will also remain in force during the period.
Following the assembly elections in Telangana state, the sales of liquor has been increased in the last two months. Usually, the sales are set up to Rs. 1,400 crore but in the last three months (September to November) is crossed the target especially, the increase in the sales have been recorded in undivided Karimnagar, Warangal, Nalgonda and Mahbubnagar districts.
An official from the Prohibition and Excise department told ‘Telugu 360’ that as many as 50 lakh cases (each case consists of 12 beers) of beers were being sold through 18 liquor depots of the government but in September, October and November months, the sales rose to an average of 58.76 lakh of cases. “Comparing with September in the previous year, the sales rose by 17% with revenue of Rs. 1,457.33 crore. Coming to October, the sales rose by 32.33% with Rs. 2,073.46 crore of revenue,” the official said
Besides this, the official added that the cost of liquor procured from neighbouring states and backdoor of depots would be more than Rs. 1,200 crore.
The Election Commission on Wednesday ordered the transfer of the Vikarabad Superintendent of Police T. Annapurna, a day after the state Congress Working President Revanth Reddy was arrested by the police.
The poll panel has posted Avinash Mohanthy as the new district Superintendent of Police.
The Election Commission directed the Telangana Director General of Police not to use the services of Annapurna for election purposes.
The action comes a day after Revanth Reddy, also a Congress candidate from Kodangal constituency, was arrested in a raid on his house past midnight.
Police said he was taken into preventive custody as he had threatened to disrupt the election rally of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao at Kosgi in Kodangal constituency.
Revanth was released after the rally of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief.
The Hyderabad High Court had faulted the Telangana Police for the manner in which Revanth was arrested and wondered if the state had become a banana republic.
The court on Tuesday had summoned the Advocate General to produce the evidence based on which the police acted against Revanth.
The High Court heard the Habeas Corpus petition filed by a Congress leader for a second consecutive day on Wednesday. A division bench of Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice M. Satyanarayana Murthy summoned Director General of Police (DGP) Mahender Reddy and asked him to show the grounds on which the police arrested Revanth.
The DGP was also asked at which level the decision to arrest the Congress candidate was taken.
A lawyer of the petitioner told reporters that the court was not satisfied with the explanation and records provided by the DGP. It raised doubts on the veracity of a document from the intelligence department.
The court directed the DGP to file an affidavit and adjourned the hearing to December 17.
As curtains drew on campaigning in Telangana on Wednesday, battle lines are clearly drawn for the first full-fledged Assembly election in India’s youngest state with the ruling TRS and Congress-led People’s Front locked in a tough fight.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the third major force in Friday’s poll battle but its strength is confined to a few constituencies. The Bahujan Left Front (BLD) led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are also contesting.
A little over 2.80 crore voters are eligible to decide the political fortunes of 1,821 candidates in 119 constituencies.
Four-and-a-half years after forming the first government in newly created Telangana, riding on the Telangana sentiment, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is making a determined bid to retain power on the basis of development and welfare schemes, though the slogan of Telangana self-respect also echoed in its campaign.
TRS faces a tough challenge from People’s Front which also includes Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), a new party floated by M. Kodandaram, who was once KCR’s friend in the Telangana movement.
The elections also mark the beginning of new friendship between the Congress and TDP who have put behind their 37-year-old rivalry to join hands. The Congress is contesting 94 seats, leaving the rest to its allies.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, whose TDP won 15 seats in 2014, has fielded candidates in 13 constituencies. The outcome is expected to be a big test for Naidu’s efforts to forge an anti-BJP alliance at the national level.
In the 2014 Assembly elections which were held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls, TRS polled 33% votes bagging 63 seats while Congress secured 21 seats with 24% votes. TDP and its then ally BJP secured 15 and 5 seats respectively with 21% votes (TDP 14%+BJP 7%).
The YSR Congress had polled 3% votes and got 3 seats. Others and independents had 11% vote share.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won 7 seats. This time the YSR Congress is not contesting the election and has declared its support to TRS.
Except eight constituencies in Hyderabad where the MIM has fielded candidates, it is supporting TRS in the rest of the state.
TRS is contesting all seats on its own. It has retained almost all the outgoing MLAs and also gave ticket to nearly two dozen MLAs of Congress and TDP who had crossed over to the ruling party after 2014 elections.
This triggered dissidence in the party and rebels entered the fray in some constituencies.
While the TRS campaign banked on its achievements, the People’s Front and BJP targeted TRS chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao for ‘family rule’ and failure to fulfill the promises.
TDP’s presence in poll fray provided KCR, as Rao is popularly known, a chance to raise the issue of Telagana pride. He called up on people not allow Naidu to set his foot into Telangana from backdoor, saying the TDP chief would harm the state.
He claimed that TRS alone can safeguard the state’s interests. “Do you want to do ghulami of Delhi?” he asked while taking potshots at the Congress and BJP.
While KCR led the TRS campaign addressing over 100 rallies, Congress President Rahul Gandhi addressed about 25 meetings, including six meetings where he shared dais with Naidu.
The TDP chief campaigned in Khammam district and Greater Hyderabad, which have large number of voters from Andhra Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed three public meetings while BJP President Amit Shah campaigned aggressively. The party also roped in several central Ministers and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states.
Former MP Lagadapati Rajagopal’s survey has triggered political debate between different parties as the final polling day is fast approaching. TDP National President and AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu has welcomed the recent survey findings of Lagadapati and he asserted that the Prajakutami will score victory over rival TRS with unquestioned support from the people. He accused TRS chief and Telangana CM K Chandrasekhara Rao of adopting double standards, saying that it was the TRS party that has praised Lagadapati survey two and half months ago but now KCR’s party is taking objection to his survey.
CBN addressed election meeting in Khammam district when he launched scathing attack on KCR and asked Telangana CM to explain whether he had made any efforts to create job opportunities for youth. Naidu said TRS leaders were overjoyed and talked a lot when Lagadapati’s survey predicted 90 seats for TRS two and half months ago. He called upon the people to defeat the KCR party as it had totally failed to fulfill promises it made to them in 2014 elections.
TDP leadership has taken serious view of the arrest of its former leader and now Congress Telangana Working President Revanth Reddy. Naidu has discussed the issue with the party leaders and its possible impact on the overall poll prospects of Congress, TDP and their allies. As the issue involved election code and guidelines, Naidu has not made elaborate comments on the arrest issue. He said KCR would pay a heavy price for the dictatorial manner in which he was governing with least regard to the democratic principles.
It is known news that Lagadapati revealed his predictions on Telangana elections that it will be either Praja Kootami win or hung assembly this time in Telangana. KTR responded on Lagadapati survey and said that he changed his original report after being pressurized by Chandrababu Naidu.
Today Lagadapati responded on KTR comments and said that there is no pressure on him from anyone and he is not the person to change the reports for the sake of any benefits. He admitted that he sent that report to KTR on November 20th but, he added, the results are changing very dynamically. He also told, unfulfilled promises like double bedroom houses are taking a toll on TRS prospects. He said that , SC ST belt in Adilabad is completely in favour of Congress Party. He also added that the mood of minorities towards TRS also changing very rapidly and this is also impacting TRS prospects.
Lagadapati clarified that he already told KTR that, the anti incumbency on local MLAs will affect TRS prospects and advised him to change some of the MLA candidates. But anyway, he added, there is still 48 hours and anything may happen.
Telangana IT employees association complaint to Election Commission on the demeaning comments made by Nandamuri Balakrishna on IT employees.
It is known news that Bala Krishna , during his campaigning made derogatory comments that “Telangana people, who didn’t even know the spelling of IT, were taught the definition of IT by Naidu. Telangana Information Technology Association (TITA) has strongly condemned these derogatory comments and submitted a formal complaint to the Election Commission by accompanying the CD with Balakrishna’s comments. TITA told that IT professionals in Telangana are working with a sense of responsibility and these kind of offending remarks will certainly hurt their sentiments and urged the political leaders to refrain from making such comments for their political gains.
It is not new for Bala Krishna to make such silly and irrelevant comments and land into in troubles. Earlier also, he commented that, it is his father NTR who introduced white rice to Telangana people and after NTR only Telangana people came to know about white rice. Obviously,those comments also drew ire from Telangana people.
Is there any chance increased polling percentage will benefit Prajakutami allies? Political analysts are reacting differently while former MP Lagadapati Rajagopal’s survey says there is a possibility. But senior political commentator C. Narasimha Rao doesn’t approve this argument. He says there’s a clear wave of public disapproval of CM K Chandrasekhar Rao’s style of governance which revolves around wooing voters with freebies and mismanage everything else.
But, Narasimha Rao says, the voters are not all that blind to totally trust KCR because of welfare schemes as there are many other factors that come into play in electoral politics. Telangana CM promised a whole lot of promises to youth especially for creation of lakhs of job opportunities and nothing has happened on this count. There’s clear resentment and please public disappointment KCR has not addressed real issues like job creation and wealth development but only focused on freebies to lure voters, says Narasimha Rao. He also says there is hidden undercurrent against KCR government wasting thousands of crores in the name of Mission Bhagiratha and the redesigning of massive irrigation projects.
Different surveys predicted differently with both TRS and Prajakutami leaders approving and disapproving those surveys to suit their convenience.
The strict rules framed by Election Commission to ensure peaceful conduct of elections have offered a big chance for rivals to embarrass Congress Telangana president Revanth Reddy ahead of December 7 election. Revanth’s call to his supporters to obstruct CM Chandrasekhara Rao’s election meeting is now cited as the main reason for his preventive arrest. Even Chief Electoral Officer Rajath Kumar has given the same reason on record.
The Congress leaders and Revanth’s wife Gita are arguing he might have been placed under house arrest but such decisions are upto the discretion of the officials who are in charge of the situation concerned. Bandh call and protests at the height of electioneering are something never seen or heard before in any election so far. A senior leader like Revanth has issued such calls for which the reasons are obvious considering enormous stress that TRS has given him by getting police searches made in Congress activists’ houses in his assembly constituency Kodangal limits.
All said and done, the ruling TRS has fully utilised the situation and made sure Revanth is subjected to unforeseen preventive action. Congress senior leader S. Jaipal Reddy asked whether KCR would keep silent if his daughter’s bedroom is raided in a similar manner. Revanth’s wife is daughter of Jaipal’s brother. During election time, the authorities do not take any chances which may be the reason why they have broken open the doors and forcibly took away Revanth. The officials have decided to keep location of Revanth a secret may be till the completion of KCR’s meeting after which he is of course to be released.
Congress leaders allege the arrest denied a right to campaigning for Revanth. It may be correct but there is also a hidden benefit of all-round media attention for hours together exclusively on Revanth’s arrest.
Yesterday, TV9 telecast a survey done by an institute called CPS (Center for Psphological Studies). This survey predicted 94-104 seats for TRS and 16-21 seats for Praja Kootami led by Congress. (Click here for : CPS Survey predicts 94-104 to TRS: how far it will impact voters?). Later, TV9 took Uttam Kumar Reddy on phone line and sought his response on this CPS survey.
Uttam Kumar Reddy fired on TV9 and told TV9 is becoming worse than T-news channel owned by KCR asTV9 is openly supporting TRS. Uttam called this CPS survey as bogus survey and CPS as well as TV9 were bribed by TRS to influence Telangan voters. He challenged TV9 and asked whether TV9 will shut their office if TRS doesn’t get 94-104 seats as predicted by CPS survey. He questioned TV9 for telecasting such baseless story just couple of days before the elections and asked what is the intention of TV9 in telecasting this story. He also lambasted psephologist from CPS and told these people are sold out to KCR.
Whether this CPS survey will turn true or not will be known in a span of a week.
As there is only three days left for the Telangana Assembly Elections, the political parties have boosted up cash distribution to the votes by adopting various methods in the transportation of money from one segment-to-another and one district-to-other.
The flying squad teams including police, excise, election commission and revenue staff got shocked when they searched an auto-trolley of Poly Vinyl Carbon (PVC) pipes in Mancherial district.
The flying squad under the supervision of Circle Inspector Mr. Mahesh held vehicle checking at Bellampally Chowrasta in Mancherial town and they got suspicion on an auto-trolley consisting of PVC pipes as a side of one of the pipes was closed with cello tape. The teams are immediately detained the auto-trolley and checked the particular pipe and they surprised as they found Rs. 50 lakh of currency inside the pipe.
The Circle Inspector told ‘Telugu 360’ that the police apprehended two persons by name Balreddy and Odelu in connection with the cash transportation and the preliminary investigation revealed that the cash was belonging to a TRS candidate.
CPS – centre for psephology studies published its survey results for upcoming Telangana elections. Top news channel telecast this survey results and they even had discussion with the psephologist.
Survey methodology:
The survey results are one sided , predicting massive victory for TRS party. The CPS claimed the survey is done between November 25th to 29th i.e. 3 days after the deadline for withdrawing nominations on November 22nd. Because, surveys done before the finalisation of candidates may not be accurate. Also CPS claimed it had taken feedback from 2,86,567 people and it included all 119 constituencies.
Vote percentage for parties as per this survey results are as below:
Some of the salient points from the CPS psephologist:
Allying with TDP is the biggest blunder congress did
Many key leaders in Praja Kootami also will lose elections this time
TDP graph has been consistently going south since 2016 in Telangana and most of it’s vote bank has already been eroded
CPS psephologist also claim that they predicted 159 seats for Congress party in 2009 and actual result is very very close to this number. Also they claimed that they predicted 98 seats for TRS in GHMC elections which is also very very close to the actual result.
Is this survey to counter Lagadapati survey?
There is no doubt that, there is some positive mood among people towards TRS and definitely TRS has an edge. But this survey raised many doubts among people as it predicted abnormal numbers like 94 to 104 seats for TRS. Moreover, recently Andhra octopus Lagadapati revealed that many independent MLAs are going to win the elections this time and that created lot of tremors in political circles. After Lagadapati statements, many people started doubting the prospects of TRS. So many observers are seeing this CPS survey telecast in top news channel as a counter to Lagadapati survey.
How far this survey will impact voters?
Had the survey predicted somewhere between 70 to 80 seats for TRS, people might have believed this survey. But 94 to 104 seats for TRS definitely looks biased and some people even doubt whether this is a sponsored survey. Especially because of the fact that people of Andhra Pradesh or Telangana never heard of this institute’s name before, even though CPS is saying that they have predicted 2009 elections and GHMC elections with utmost accuracy. Moreover, the numbers they have predicted for TRS are exactly same as what KCR has been saying. On the other hand, most of the other surveys also predicted TRS having an edge compared to other parties but none of them predicted such whopping numbers for TRS.
Anyway most of the people might have already decided regarding home to cast their vote. We will have to wait for one more week to see who will have the last laugh in Telangana.
It is known news about Pawan Kalyan janasena party is not contesting in Telangana elections. Even though fans of Pawan Kalyan wanted him to test his luck at least in couple of seats in Telangana, Pawan Kalyan preferred state away from elections. However some leaders tried to get Pawan Kalyan support but Pawan did not express his stand on Telangana directions till date. But the latest update is that Pawan Kalyan is going to express his stand on Telangana elections on 5th December.
Pawan Kalyan Tweeted today that, as Janasena party is not contesting elections this time in Telangana, Janasena fans, Telangana people and leaders of various political parties have been requesting him to spell his stand on Telangana elections. So, he will express his opinion on Telangana elections on December 5th which is just 2 days before the day of elections.
Even though Pawan Kalyan doesn’t have power to win seats in Telangana, definitely he has ability to influence at least some quarters in Telangana given the fact that he enjoys huge fan following in Nizam area. Many people already started predicting that he may support TRS party in the upcoming elections. But some others opine that even if he doesn’t support TRS party he may give a call for his fans to defeat TDP. But whatever call he gives, will certainly have some impact on Telangana elections. Moreover he has intentionally chosen the date of December 5th for this and nobody will have time to counter his statements.
we will have to wait and see what call Pawan Kalyan may give this time.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao was scared of Prime Minister Narendra Modi because of his corruption.
Addressing a series of election rallies in Telangana, he also claimed that Modi was running the Telangana government through remote control.
“As Modi has CBI and Enforcement Directorate at his disposal, KCR is afraid of him,” Gandhi told a road show in Hyderabad while campaigning with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Alleging that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief KCR received kickbacks in irrigation projects, the Congress leader said it was because of this corruption that he was not able to stand up to Modi and supported the BJP on every bill and in the election of President and Vice President.
Gandhi said KCR owed an explanation to the people of Telangana as to why he backed Modi on demonetization and GST when both the measures caused misery to the people.
“Wherever Modi speaks, he criticizes me, ridicules me and my family but he speaks nothing against KCR. This shows they are hand in glove,” he said.
Gandhi, who also addressed rallies in Tandur and Gadwal earlier, said the Congress-led People’s Front will break the KCR-Modi partnership in Telangana Assembly elections.
He described the TRS and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) as Modi’s “B” and “C” teams. “We will defeat B and C teams in this election. Next year we will defeat A team.”
Gandhi said when Telangana state was formed, people had dreamt of ‘golden Telangana’ but only the family of KCR has turned ‘golden’.
Stating that when Telangana was formed it had Rs 17,000 crore surplus budget but in five years KCR increased it to Rs 2.5 lakh crore. “Every family has a debt burden of Rs 2.5 lakh but the income of the Chief Minister’s son has gone up by 400 percent.”
