Telangana municipal election results: Congress leads in 430 wards, BRS in 222; BJP at third spot

COngress took an betimes top in the Telangana Municipal corp elections as counting began at 8 am on fri. Come out of 116 municipalities, the party has won 37 so far, while the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has secured 7.Results from the remaining civic bodies are still being tabulated. Among the seven municipal corporations, Congress has won one to date.Police and the Election Commission of India (ECI) have put counting arrangements in place at centres across Telangana.Also Read | 70% turnout in ‘peaceful’ T’gana civic body pollsHere are the top points:Early trends in the Telangana Municipal Corporation elections on Friday showed Congress leading in 430 wards, followed by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in 222 wards. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in third place with leads in 61 wards, while other parties and independents were ahead in 59 wards, ANI reported.Elections were held on Wednesday in seven municipal corporations and 116 municipalities across the state. Polling covered 414 wards in the corporations of Kothagudem, Karimnagar, Mahabubnagar, Mancherial, Nizamabad, Nalgonda, and Ramagundam, along with 2,582 wards in the 116 municipalities.Around 70% of voters had exercised their franchise by 5 pm, state election commission officials said. Warangal District Magistrate Satya Sharda said counting began at 8 am. She added that postal ballot counting was underway, with four tables set up in Wardhannapet and ten in Narsampet.Earlier, Telangana BJP President N Ramchander Rao expressed confidence that the party would win a significant number of seats. “Last time, we had around 330 municipal councillors and corporators, and three chairmen. This time, I am sure the people of Telangana will give a big mandate to the Bharatiya Janata Party. We are hopeful of faring better and emerging as an alternative to the Congress,” Rao told ANI.A total of 16,031 ballot boxes were used in the elections. Officials said 137 strong rooms had been prepared to securely store them.Polling witnessed sporadic clashes. In Karimnagar, police resorted to a lathi charge to disperse BJP workers gathered near the Zilla Parishad office.Six BJP workers were injured. Protesting against the police action, BJP workers staged a sit-in on the main road, alleging bogus voting in the 58th division. They questioned the use of force and accused police of ignoring their complaints.An altercation was also reported at a polling station in Ward 34 of Sangareddy town. Senior Congress leader T Jagga Reddy alleged that the official on duty had collared his party’s candidate.Jagga Reddy attempted to enter the polling booth, leading to a confrontation with police. He accused the officer of facilitating alleged rigging in favour of the BRS candidate and warned that Congress would boycott the election if the officer was not suspended.Tension was reported in Parigi municipality over alleged bogus voting. A clash broke out at Polling Station 27 in Ward 13 after a Congress agent objected to suspected fake voting and demanded that a voter be removed.