BJP doubles tally to eight seats in Telangana

The party retained all the sitting seats - Secunderabad represented by G Kishan Reddy, Karimnagar by Bandi Sanjay, Nizamabad by Dharampuri Arvind and Adilabad by G Nagesh.

Hyderabad: Making big inroads in Telangana, the BJP doubled its tally from four to eight seats in the Lok Sabha polls. In the last Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had managed to win four seats out of the 17.

The party retained all the sitting seats – Secunderabad represented by G Kishan Reddy, Karimnagar by Bandi Sanjay, Nizamabad by Dharampuri Arvind and Adilabad by G Nagesh.

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Additionally, the party candidates Etala Rajender won from Malkajgiri, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy from Chevella, M Raghunandan Rao from Medak and DK Aruna from Mahabubnagar. Except for Adilabad, the party retained all the sitting MPs.

In Adilabad, the BJP had replaced sitting MP Soyam Bapu Rao with Nagesh, who joined the BJP from BRS days before the announcement of tickets.

The BJP’s impressive rise in vote share from 19.65 per cent in 2019 to 43 per cent, mostly comes at the cost of BRS whose vote share declined from 41.71 per cent.

Though the BJP could not achieve the target of double digit but its ability to double the tally is being seen as a big achievement.

The BJP has been focusing on expanding its presence in the Southern States, with Telangana being one of the important States, where it could make inroads. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi concentrated on Telangana and held several rallies and road shows, which resulted in the increase in tally.

According to a senior BJP leader, the people of Telangana trusted Prime Minister Modi and voted in favour of the party candidates. The ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ worked in Telangana and a large number of voters, especially the beneficiaries of the central schemes, voted in favour of BJP candidates, he added.

The BJP’s political trajectory in Telangana has been characterised by gradual growth. The party won five seats in alliance with the TDP in the State’s first assembly election in 2014. However, it faced setbacks after the partnership dissolved in 2018, leaving only one BJP legislator, T Raja Singh, in the assembly.

However, the BJP surprised everyone by securing four seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. In the 2023 assembly elections, the BJP won eight seats, its highest tally since 2014. eom