Telangana Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday released the first list of candidates for 115 out of 119 seats for the upcoming Assembly elections. The Chief Minister will contest from Kamareddy and Gajwel and Minister Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao (KTR) from Sircilla.
Releasing the list, KCR exuded confidence that BRS will win between 95-105 seats out of the total of 119 in the upcoming assembly polls. He asserted that the BRS’s friendship with Hyderabad Lok Sabha Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM will continue.
He further said that candidates have been changed in only seven assembly constituencies. The BRS chief also said that the party would release its manifesto on October 16 in Warangal.
There were only nine changes visible in the list of sitting MLAs, out of which two tickets were passed on to their family members due to political obligations. These are Secunderabad Containment and Korutla. The six candidates who were dropped were facing some form of anti-incumbency, allegations of unethical conduct, or a court case.
These constituencies are Uppal, Station Ghanpur, Wyra, Khanapur, Vemulawada, and Boath. In Kamareddy, the sitting MLA had to make way for KCR, who is all set to contest from two constituencies, his traditional seat Gajwel and Kamareddy.
BRS party sources believe that KCR throwing his hat into Kamareddy will usher in a positive mood for the pink party in the north-western region bordering Maharashtra, where it wants to make inroads in the upcoming general elections. However, the opposition parties feel that KCR is playing safe, as he is on shaky ground in Gajwel, the seat he has represented twice.
There were no changes among the 93 sitting MLAs who were included in the remaining list of 106 names. In the Telangana Assembly, BRS has 104 MLAs, and KCR opting to retain most of his legislators has caught political analysts and psephologists by surprise.
Posting on X after the release of the candidates’ list, BRS MLC K Kavitha, who is the daughter of Chandrasekhar Rao, said it reflected the people’s faith in the chief minister’s leadership and the BRS’s governance. “Our leader KCR Garu announced 115 exceptional candidates for the forthcoming Assembly elections out of 119 seats. It truly is a testament to the people’s faith in CM KCR Garu’s courageous leadership and the impactful governance of the @BRSparty. We humbly seek the blessings of people of Telangana!!,” she said.
Assembly elections in Telangana will be held in the coming months. The tenures of the Telangana Assembly will come to an end on January 16, 2024. In 2018, K Chandrashekar Rao secured a landslide victory by winning 87 of the 119 seats.
