Congress continues rural dominance in Telangana gram panchayat elections; BRS shows modest resurgence

Hyderabad: The ruling Congress continues to maintain its dominance across Telangana’s rural tracts, if the results of the gram panchayat elections that concluded on Wednesday are anything to go by. Polling was held in three phases across 12,727 panchayats. However, in a notable development, the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) secured a significant number of panchayats, signalling a modest comeback, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) achieved a breakthrough by winning several rural local bodies for the first time.

The BJP, which had never contested such a large number of panchayats before, fielded or backed candidates in nearly 80 percent of the seats.

In the elections that were held without symbols and conducted on December 11, 14, and 17, Congress-backed candidates emerged victorious in around 6,794 panchayats, including those won unanimously. This accounts for over 53 percent of the total seats and underscores the party’s strong rural foothold as it completed two years in office earlier this month.

BRS-backed candidates won approximately 3,503 seats, marking a modest improvement after the party’s poor performance in both the 2023 Assembly and subsequent Lok Sabha polls. While BRS managed to perform relatively better in urban areas in the 2023 assembly polls, it had drawn a blank in the rural areas.

The BJP, meanwhile, continued its steady upward trajectory in Telangana. Candidates backed by the saffron party secured around 697 panchayats, while Independents and others accounted for the remaining 1,651 seats.

BRS working president K T Rama Rao described the results as the beginning of Congress’s decline, while Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud asserted that the outcome reflected overwhelming support for Congress in rural Telangana.

BJP state president N Ramchander Rao pointed out that the party had no presence in several districts during previous panchayat polls but had now made visible gains. “Earlier, we did not have a single Sarpanch in Jangaon. Now, we have won two in Jangaon, six in Mahabubabad, three in Bhupalpally, six in Sangareddy, six in Wanaparthy, and three in Nagarkurnool. Our visibility in rural Telangana has increased,” he said.

Senior journalist A Satish Kumar noted that this was the BJP’s best-ever showing in rural Telangana. “Never in the history of the state, even during the united Andhra Pradesh days, had BJP won so many panchayats. The party’s eight MLAs and eight MPs have given confidence to its cadre, who contested and campaigned energetically in rural areas,” he told DH.

The BJP’s performance was especially strong in its traditional base of north Telangana, where its candidates won a majority of panchayats.

Meanwhile, the BRS’s tally securing nearly 27–28 percent of Sarpanch seats despite being out of power indicates that the party has retained a resilient support base in its rural strongholds. The trend was particularly evident in districts historically dominated by the pink party, such as Siddipet and in areas like Komaram Bheem Asifabad and Jangaon.