Hyderabad: Telangana’s ruling party Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is likely to announce the first list of candidates for the coming Assembly polls today. The BRS president and chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is going to address the press today at Telangana Bhavan.
He is reported to have finalised the candidates for almost all the seats.
The first list is likely to contain candidates for 87 seats. Names for the remaining 32 seats will be declared later.
According to party sources, 95 percent of the sitting legislators will be fielded again. The BRS chief is likely to make changes only in 10-12 constituencies. Sitting MLAs in two constituencies in the erstwhile Adilabad district and one each in Medak, Warangal, Karimnagar, and Rangareddy may be denied tickets.
As a few constituencies are witnessing infighting due to opposition to the sitting MLAs from within the party ranks and the presence of multiple aspirants for tickets, KCR is likely to declare candidates for such segments at a later date.
Telangana Assembly Polls 2023
The polls for 119-member Telangana Assembly are due to be held in November-December.
In the previous assembly polls, the main parties involved were the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Indian National Congress (INC), and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Following the polls, the TRS, now known as the BRS, formed the government after securing victory in 88 out of the 119 seats, marking a significant increase in its seat share by 25.
In contrast, the INC’s seat share decreased from 21 to 19, while the AIMIM managed to win seven seats.
Despite the BJP’s efforts to form a government, they could only secure a single seat, with Raja Singh winning the Goshamahal Assembly constituency seat. The party’s seat share dropped from five to one.
Currently, the BRS has a strength of 104 in the 119-member state Assembly. As many as 14 MLAs from Congress, and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had joined the ruling party after the 2018 polls.
BRS eyes for hat trick
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), as the BRS was earlier known, formed the first government in the newly created Telangana state in 2014. It retained power in 2018 when KCR advanced the elections by a few months to delink with the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
BRS will win 5-6 seats more than 2018 tally: KCR
Speaking in Telangana Assembly on August 5, KCR exuded confidence that the BRS will come back to power with seven to eight seats more than it got in the last polls.
If BRS retains power, he will be the first leader in South India to become chief minister for a third consecutive term.
With inputs from IANS